



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

©|ap ©nj^ngli $&,:„ 

Shelf. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





ALCOHOL iN HISTORY. 



Atf 



AC 'OUST OF IHHMPERAICE II ALL 

AGES ; 



TOGETHER WITH A 



HISTORY OF THE VARIOUS METHODS 
EMPLOYED FOR ITS REMOVAL. 



BY 

/ 

BICHAED EDDY, D.D. 




New York: 

The National Temperance Society and Publication House, 
No. 58 READE STREET, 

1887. 






HV5 



Copyright, 1887, by 
The National Temperance Society and Publication House. 



ELECTROTYPED BY 

THE ORPHANS* PRESS — CHURCH CHARITY FOUNDATION, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

PRINTED BY E. O. JENKINS* SONS, NEW YORK. 



PRIZE ESSAYS. 



Jno. N. Steahns, Esq, 

Cor. Sec'y. and Pub. Agent, 

Nat. Temp.. Socfy and Pub. House y 
58 Beade Street, New York. 

Beau Sir — The undersigned members of the Commit- 
tee appointed by the National Temperance Convention, 
held at Saratoga, N.Y., August 26 and 27, 1873, to aid Mr. 
Job H. Jackson of West Grove, Pa., in securing an u Amer- 
ican Standard work on Temperance," having completed the 
duty assigned them, desire herewith to present through you 
to the National Temperance Society and Publication House, 
Parts II. and III. of such work, with then recommendation 
for publication. 

Part L " The Scientific : embracing the Chemical, Phy- 
siological and Medical Relations of the Temper- 
ance Question," written by Dr. William Hargreaves 
of Philadelphia, was published by the National 
Society under the title of " Alcohol and Science." 

Part II. " The Historical^ Statistical, Economical and Polit- 
ical," and, 

Part III. "The Social, Educational and Religious Aspects," 
written by Rev. Richard Eddy, of Massachusetts, 
are herewith presented in MS. 

The MSS. presented under the prize competitive plan not 
proving satisfactory to the Committee, that method was 
abandoned, and Dr. Eddy was engaged by Mr. Jackson to 
prepare Part II. ; and that work receiving the approval of 
the Committee, he was also engaged to write Part III., 
which after pains-taking care in reading and examination 
by each member, received the unanimous favors ~ irt A%« 
ment of the Committee. 

(v) 



vi Prize Essays. 

In literary execution, clearness of statement, comprehen. 
siveness in research, fact and reasoning, Parts II. and III. 
will we think commend themselves as " eminently satis- 
factory ; n and a a matter for congratulation that this pro- 
tracted enterprise comes to so acceptable a close." These 
three general parts, will, we believe, constitute the most 
complete work on Temperance produced in the United States ; 
and will prove a valuable addition to our literature on that 
subject, furnishing an arsenal from which the educator, 
legislator and philanthropist, may draw lessons from history, 
philosophy, experience and statistics, to be used in the war- 
fare against the " drink system." 

Ten years have passed since the Committee, consisting of 
A. M. Powell, Gen. Neal Dow, Judge R. C. Pitman, Rev. 
A. A. Miner and James Black were appointed. The entire 
Committee passed upon and approved Part I. Subsequently 
Gen. Dow and Judge Pitman finding the labor required too 
severe a tax upon time and strength, fully required for other 
duties, declined to further serve. Since their retirement, the 
undersigned have endeavored to meet the labor and responsi- 
bilities, and have borne the personal expenses incident to 
their appointment, and with the passing of these MSS. to the 
National Temperance Society they judge their duties will 
end. 

We deem it proper to say that beside the initial conception 
of this work (mapped out and broadened by another^) the 
whole financial burden in the payment of prizes offered, and 
compensation to writers, has been paid by Mr. Jackson, to 
whose courage, devotedness, and perseverance in overcoming 
great obstacles, the honor of this work is greatly due. 

We trust the silent influences of this work may enlighten 
and preserve many, and redeem some from the drink curse ; 
and that it may prove under God an efficient agency in 
directing the moral and political power of the people for 
the banishment of the alcoholic drink trade from the recog- 
nition and protection of our national and state governments. 
Very respectfully, 

A. M. Powell. 
A. A. Mixeh. 
James Black. 



PREFACE. 



THE following pages are the result of an effort to fur- 
nish what will supply a want long felt by those who 
labor in the temperance cause, as well as by the general 
reader on the subject, viz.: — a book that shall contain in 
orderly array, the many facts in the history of Intemper- 
ance which are scattered in numerons volumes, many of 
them not accessible to the general reader, and some not to 
be found except in the large libraries of Colleges and other 
Public Institutions. 

In arranging these pages the writer has desired to set 
forth facts, rather than to minister to pride of authorship ; 
and, disclaiming originality, is satisfied to be known only 
as a Compiler of the various chapters in the story of the 
world's great cnrse, as it has been told in so many climes, 
and through the most distant ages. 

While it is not claimed that this historical field is ex- 
hausted — since no one can know better than he who has 
attempted the exploration of any portion of it, what vast 
regions are yet unexamined — it is believed that there are 
brought together in these pages a more full statement of 
reliable facts in regard to the extent and uniform conse- 
quences of intemperance, than can be found elsewhere. 

(vii) 



viii Preface* 

In preparing the portion devoted to the history of efforts 
to suppress intern perance, an examination has been made 
of the great mass of conjecture which has accumulated on 
the subject. Unsupported traditions have been discarded, 
and only well-attested facts have been recorded. What is 
given, is, therefore, believed to be worthy of credit 5 and 
copious references to the sources of information on any por- 
tion of the subject of the volume will be found in the mar- 
ginal notes. 

The writer has also aimed at candor and impartiality in 
analyzing the causes which have led to radical changes of 
policy in temperance w T ork, as also in setting forth and 
considering Objections to special methods of operation ; 
and he humbly trusts that these pages, which cost him 
many researches, and much and long continued labor, may 
be of service to the workers in the field of temperance, as 
well as to the general reader, helping each and all to 
hopeful and persistent effort in battling against intemper- 
ance. To this end he invokes the blessing of God on his 
work, K. E. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface 7 



CHAPTER I. 

Temperance and Intemperance Defined 13 

The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined 15 
List of the Chief Substances employed in pro- 
ducing Intoxicants 31 

Fermented and Unfermented Wines 42 

Malt Liquors 49 

Distilled Liquors 55 

Adulteration of Liquors 59 

CHAPTER II. 

History of Intemperance, and its Political, Moral 

and Religious Effects 73 

(ix) 



x Contents. 



PAGE 



In China 75 

In India 79 

In Persia , 85 

In Egypt 93 

In Greece and Rome 96 

Among the Jews * 115 

Among the Philistines, Amalekites, Syrians and 

Babylonians 122 

In Germany 124 

In Russia 137 

In England 140 

In the United States 176 



CHAPTER III. 

The Annual Cost of Intoxicants to the Leading 

Nations and to the World 208 

Intemperance and Crime 216 

Intemperance and Prostitution 229 

Intemperance and Pauperism 233 

Intemperance and Physical Decay. 240 

Intemperance and Mental Disease and Heredity 247 



Contents. xi 

CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

History of the Means Employed in Various Na- 
tions and Ages to Remove Intemperance... 259 

Antidotes to Intoxication 260 

Personal Penalties for Drunkenness 261 

Ecclesiastical Penalties 273 

Moderation Societies , 276 

Total Abstinence Societies 294 

The Women's Work 350 

Coffee Houses 351 

Inebriate Asylums 353 

Education * .,. 353 

License Laws 354 

Prohibitory Laws ; t . . . 366 

Local Option Laws 378 



CHAPTER V. 

Evils of Licensing a Confessed Wrong 382 

License in Conflict with Accepted Principles of 

Law , 386 



xii Contents, 

PAGE 

The Right and Duty of the State to Prohibit . . 388 

Prohibition a Success 390 

Organized Opposition to Prohibition 414 

The Necessity for Prohibition Acknowledged by 

Temperance Leaders 424 

Grounds of Opposition to Prohibitory Laws. . . 430 
Great Political Parties Controlled by the Liquor 

Traffic , 449 

Conclusion 454 



ALCOHOL IN HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 



Temperance and Intemperance Denned — The Temperate and 
Moderation Plea Examined —List of the Chief Substances 
Employed in Producing Intoxicants —Fermented and Un- 
fermented Wines — Malt Liquors— Distilled Liquors— Adul- 
terations of Liquors. 

XENOPHOX, in his Memorabilia of Socrates, repre- 
sents that great philosopher as making no distinc- 
tion between wisdom and temperance, but as teaching that 
" He who knows what is good and obeys it, and what is 
bad and avoids it, is both wise and temperate." * 

The statement is significant in the most general applica- 
tion of these terms to the largest fields where wisdom and 
temperance are demanded, but it is especially pertinent in 
its application to the particular use of the w T ord temperance, 
to denote abstinence from intoxicating drinks as a bever- 
age ; for if temperance is determined by the avoidance of 
what is bad, any rise, even the most infrequent, of the bad, 
must be a degree of intemperance ; a moderate temperance 
in regard to a bad thing, being an absurdity, a folly that 
never can be called wise. 

There is, no doubt, a safe and wise, and even necessary 
use of alcohol, the chief intoxicating agent of our day; 
but that use is confined to the arts and sciences, possibly 

* Book III. e, ix., y. 4, 

(13) 



14 Alcohol in History. 

including medicine in the last named ; * but certainly it is 
never wise, useful nor safe as a beverage. 

The so-called moderate, i. e. } occasional drinkers of intox- 
icants, and also a few who do not drink at all, claim that 
intemperance can be charged only to those who become 
sots, unable to take care of themselves, or unwilling to re- 
strain their appetites; while those who take but little at a 
time, or who are infrequent in their indulgences, may claim 
to be, if not advocates, at least examples of temperance. 
More than this is declared to be unwarranted by any just 
use of these terms ; and even some professed Christian men 
and women say, is contrary to the demand of the Bible ; 
temperance, not total abstinence, being the requirement of 
the Gospel. Such statements, how T ever honestly made, 
have no foundation save. in thoughtlessness and ignorance. 

I. The word temperance occurs but three times in the 
New Testament } the original Greek word in its various 
forms, but seven times; and m no instance does it conflict 
with Socrates' idea of it as denoting the avoidance of what 
is bad. If in any instance it possibly suggests moderation, 
or a moderate use of, the connection is such as to exclude 
the idea of its allowing any indulgence whatever in that 
which is tainted with evil, f 

When Paul " reasoned " with Felix J " of temperance," 
he meant, as all scholars concede, chastity, intending to 
rebuke the adulterous lives of Felix and Drusilla. To in- 
terpret the apostle as meaning less than total abstinence 



* " Its application as an agent that shall enter the living organ- 
ization is properly limited by the learning and skill possessed 
by the physician — a learning that itself admits of being recast 
and revised in many important details, and perhaps in princi- 
ples." — Dr. B. W. Eichardson's Cantor Lectures on Alcohol. 
American edition, p. 178. See also, numerous facts and author- 
ities cited in Dr. Hargreaves' Essay, " Alcohol, What it Is and 
What it Does: » 

t See Galatians v. 23. Titus i. 8. 2 Peter i. 6. 

t Acts xxiv. 25. 



The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined. 15 

from this immorality, would be to make him the eiicoura- 
ger of moderate criminal indulgence, a corrupter and not a 
purifier of men. 

When the same apostle institutes a comparison between 
the Grecian and the Christian race, and says of the compe- 
titor in the former : " Every man that striveth for the mas- 
tery is temperate in all things,"* it must be conceded — 
because the rules enforced by the trainer of the athlete are 
well known — that modify the word temperate as we may, 
to denote moderation in eating, exercise or repose, it stands 
for absolute abstinence from intoxicating drinks. That 
w T as not only the ancient rule, j it is as imperatively demand- 
ed by all modern trainers of men for contests of physical 
agility, strength and endurance. 

The only remaining passage where the word rendered 
temperate, occurs in the New Testament, is in Paul's ad- 
vice on the subject of celibacy and marriage, the word 
translated " contain." J The same reasons which necessi- 
tate the idea of entire abstinence in the case of Felix and 
Dmsilla, necessitate it here ; and no further argument is 
necessary, since less than this involves the Scriptures in 
allowing some degree of indulgence in immorality, — a sup- 
position which is as impious as it is absurd. 

II. Nor is it any less unwise to say that temperance 
consists in, or properly allows moderation in the use of in- 
toxicants, on the ground that it is the immoderate use 
alone which is injurious to ourselves or to the community. 
It would hardly be possible to come in more direct conflict 
with well-established facts. Let us look at a few of these 
facts as attested by the most competent and unimpeachable 
witnesses. 

* 1 Cor. ix. 25. 

t Epictetus, Enchiridion, chap. xxxv. 

1 1 Cor. vii. 9. Macknight renders the verse, " If they can- 
not live continently." Dean Alford : "If they have not con- 
tinency." 



16 Alcohol in History. 

Dr. Trotter says : " It is not drinking spirituous liquors to tho 
length of intoxication, that alone constitutes intemperance. A 
man may drink a great deal — pass a large portion of his time at 
the bottle, and yet he ahle to lill most of the avocations of life. 
There are certainly many men of this description, who have 
never been so transformed with liquor as to he unknown to 
their own house dog, or so foolish in their appearance, as to he 
hooted by school-boys, that are yet to be considered as intem- 
perate livers. These ' sober drunkards/ if I may be allowed the 
expression, deceive themselves as well as others ; and though 
they pace slowly along the road to ruin, their journey terminates 
at the goal — bad health." 

Says Dr. Gordon, "When I was studying at Edinburgh, I had 
occasion to open a great many bodies of persons who had died 
of various diseases, in a population much more renowned for so- 
briety and temperance than that of London ; but the remarkable 
fact was, that in all these cases there was more or less some 
affection of the liver. I account for it, from the fact, that these 
moral and religious people were in the habit of drinking a small 
quantity of spirits every day, some one or two glasses. They 
were not in any shape or form intemperate, and would have been 
shocked at the imputation." " Leaving drunkenness out of the 
question, the frequent consumption of a small quantity of spirits, 
gradually increased, is as surely destructive of life as is more 
habitual intoxication." 

Dr R. G. Dods, bore this testimony before Parliament: "No one 
is safe from the approach of countless maladies, who is in the 
daily habit of using even the smallest portion of ardent spirit. 
The practice cannot possibly do any good, and it has often done 
much harm." 

Dr. Copdand, in his Dictionary of Practical Medicine, says: 
" There can be no doubt, that, as expressed by the late Dr. 
Gregory, an occasional excess is, upon the whole, less injurious 
to the constitution than the practice of daily taking a moderate 
quantity of any fermented liquor or spirit." 

Says Dr. Benjamin Rush: "I have known many persons de- 
stroyed by ardent spirits who were never completely intoxicated 
during the whole course of their lives." 

So Dr. Harris, of the United States Navy: " The moderate 
use of spirituous liquors has destroyed many who were never 
drunk." And Dr. Ramsay, of Charleston: "Health is much 
injured by those who are frequently sipping strong liquors, 
though they are never intoxicated." 



The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined. 17 

Prof. Henry Munroe, M. D., says: " Alcohol, whether taken in 
large or small doses, immediately disturbs the functions of the 
body and the mind." 

Dr. Macnisli, in his Anatomy of Drunkenness, says : "Men in- 
dulge habitually, day by day, not perhaps to the extent of pro- 
ducing any evident effect, either upon the body or mind at 
the time, and fancy themselves all the while strictly temperate, 
■while they are, in reality, undermining their constitution by 
slow degrees — killing themselves by inches, and shortening 
their existence several years." 

Of the following statement of Rev. Dr. Lyman Beech er, 
Dr. Macnisli says : " I fully concur with him. " 

" It is a matter of undoubted certainty that habitual tippling 
is worse than periodical drunkenness. The poor Indian, who 
once a month drinks himself dead, all but simple breathing, 
will outlive for years the man who drinks little and often, and 
is not perhaps suspected of intemperance." * 

To the following, the signatures of eighty eminent Eng- 
lish physicians and surgeons were appended : " An opin- 
ion, handed down from rude and ignorant times, and im- 
bibed by Englishmen from their youth, has become very 
general, that the habitual use of some portion of alcoholic 
drink, as of wine, beer, or spirit, is beneficial to health, 
and even necessary for those subjected to habitual labor. 

" Anatomy, physiology, and the experience of all ages 
and countries, when properly examined, must satisfy every 
mind well informed in medical science, that the above opin- 
ion is altogether erroneous. Man, in ordinary health, like 
other animals, requires not any such stimulants, and can- 
not be benefitted by the habitual employment of any quan- 
tity of them, large or small ; nor will their use during his 
life-time increase the aggregate amount of his labor. In 
whatever quantity they are employed, they will rather 
tend to diminish it. 

" When he is in a state of temporary debility from illness 
or other causes, a temporary use of them, as of other stim- 
ulant medicines, may be desirable ) but as soon as he is 

*Beecher's Six Sermons on Intemperance, 1827, p. 4. 
2 



18 Alcohol in History. 

raised to Iris natural standard of health, a continuance of 
their use can do no good to him, even in the most moder- 
ate quantities ; while larger quantities, (yet such as by 
many persons are thought moderate,) do sooner or later 
prove injurious to the human constitution, without any ex- 
ceptions." 

The highest medical authorities of Great Britain, on 
being examined in large numbers before a committee 
appointed by the British Parliament to inquire into the 
causes of drunkenness, unanimously testified : " Ardent 
spirits are absolutely poisonous to the human constitution ; 
in no case whatever are they necessary or even useful to 
persons in health ; bat are always, in every case, and to 
the smallest extent, deleterious, pernicious, or destructive, 
according to the proportions in which they may be taken 
into the system. " * 

Prof. James Miller says: " Alcohol is a luxury in one sense, 
no doubt. Its first effects are pleasurable ; and to some frames 
intensely so. But its tendencies, even in truly l moderate' al- 
lowance, are always evil." f 

The famous authority on Physiology, Dr. Win. B. Carpenter, 
says: " My position is, that in the discharge of the ordinary 
duties of life, Alcohol is not necessary, but injurious, in so far 
as it acts at all. Even in small quantities, habitually taken, it 
perverts the ordinary functions by which the body is sustained 
in health." And again : " We maintain that the action of the 
excessive or of the moderate use of Alcohol upon the healthy 
body is a question of degree alone ; its immediate effect being 
essentially the same in the one case as in the other." { 

Dr. Chas. Wilson, in his " Pathology of Drunkenness," says 
that "no circumstances of ordinary life can render even the 
moderate use of ardent spirits or other intoxicating fluids 
either beneficial or necessary, or even innocuous. The disor- 
dered functions of nutrition caused indirectly by its action on 
the stomach, and directly by its own absorption and diffusion 

* Quoted by Rev Marcus E. Cross, Mirror of Intemperance, 
p. 30. 

t Alcohol: Its Place and Power, p. 208. 

X Essay on the Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors. 



The Temperate and 3Ioderation Plea Examined. 19 

throughout the system, contribute to the production of an ill- 
assimilated blood, and tend to attach new forms of danger to 
every description of disease or accident. " 

Prof. Youmans says of Alcohol : "It is an inveterate foe of 
the intellectual and moral principle of man. In all its number- 
less forms, and in every quantity, it is the potent adversary of 
the mind." 

Dr. James Johnson, physician to King William IV., said; 
"A very considerable proportion of the middling and higher 
classes of life, as well as the lower, commit serious depredations 
on their constitutions, when they believe themselves to be so- 
ber citizens, and really abhor debauch. This is by drinking 
ale or other malt liquor to a degree far short of intoxication 
indeed, yet from long habit producing a train of effects that em- 
bitter the ulterior periods of existence." 

Dr. Macroie of the Liverpool Hospital, says : Having treated 
more than 300,000 patients, I give it as my decided opinion that 
the constant moderate use of stimulating drinks is more injuri- 
ous physically than the now-and-then excessive indulgence in 
them." 

Dr. Maudsley bears this testimony : "If men took careful 
thought of the best use which they could make of their bod- 
ies, they would probably never take alcohol, except as they 
would take a dose of medicine, in order to serve some spec- 
ial purpose. It is idle to say that there is any real neces- 
sity for persons who are in good health to indulge in any kind 
of alcoholic liquor. At the least it is an indulgence which is 
unnecessary : at the worst, it is a vice which occasions infinite 
misery, sin, crime, madness, and disease. Short of the patent 
and undeniable ills which it is admitted on all hands to pro- 
duce, it is at the bottom of manifold mischiefs that are never 
brought directly home to it. How much ill-work would not 
be done, how much good work would be better done, but for 
its baneful inspiration! Each act of crime, each suicide, each 
outbreak of madness, each disease, occasioned by it, means an 
infinite amount of suffering endured and inflicted before mat- 
ters have reached that climax." * 

Chas. Buxton, Esq., M. P., a well-known London brewer, 
says in his essay on " How to Stop Drunkenness : " " Dr. Car- 
penter gives a fearful list of the diseases that are generated by 
alcohol, — delirium tremens, insanity, oinomania, idiocy, apo- 

* Responsibility in Mental Disease, p. 285. 



20 Alcohol in History. 

plexy, paralysis, epilepsy, moral perversion, irritation of the mu- 
cous membrane of the stomach, gastric dyspepsia, congestion of 
the liver and a multitude more. And he shows that even moder- 
ate doses of the poison, regularly taken, tend to produce the same 
result ; and also to elicit all kinds of diseases that might else 
have lain dormant, and slowly to sap the faculties of body and 
mind. There is no doubt that a large amount of suffering is 
caused by drinking, even when it does not by any means bulge 
out into drunkenness." (pp. 11, 12.) 

Dr. Chambers says : " The action of frequent small divided 
drams, is to produce the greatest amount of harm of which alco- 
hol is capable, with the least amount of good." 

Says Dr. Andrew Combe: "I regard even the temperate 
use of wine, when not required by the state of the constitution, 
as always more or less injurious." 

An article in the Second Report of the Board of State Chari- 
ties of Massachusetts, on "Alcohol as a cause of Vitiation of Hu- 
man Stock," after showing how rapidly alcohol as compared 
with other poisons is eliminated from the system, suggests; 
Whether this peculiarity of alcohol does not make its constant 
use in small doses worse for posterity than its occasional use in 
large quantities ; that is, whether tippling is not worse than 
drunkenness, as far as it affects the number and the condition 
of the offspring." 

More recently, Sir Henry Thompson, in a letter to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, says: " I have long had the conviction 
that there is no greater cause of evil, moral and physical, in 
this country, than the use of alcoholic beverages. I do not 
mean by this that extreme indulgence which produces drunken- 
ness. The habitual use of fermented liquors to an extent far 
short of what is necessary to produce that condition, and such 
as is quite common in all ranks of society, injures the body and 
diminishes the mental power to an extent which, I think, few 
people are aware of. Such, at all events, is the result of obser- 
vation during more than twenty years of professional life, de- 
voted to hospital practice, and to private practice in every rank 
above it. Thus I have no hesitation in attributing a very large 
proportion of some of the most painful and dangerous maladies 
which have come under my notice, as well as those which 
every medical man has to treat, to the ordinary and daily use 
of fermented drinks taken in the quantity which is conven- 
tionally deemed moderate. Whatever may be said in regard to 
its evil influences on the mental and moral faculties, as to the 
fact above stated, I feel that I have a right to speak with author- 



The Temperate and 3foderation Plea Examined. 21 

ity ; and I do so solely because it appears to me a duty, espec- 
ially at this moment, not to be silent on a matter of such ex- 
treme importance. I know full well bow unpalatable is such a 
truth, and bow such a declaration brings me into painful con- 
flict, I had almost said with the national sentiments and the 
time-honored and prescriptive usages of our race. * * * My main 
object is to express my opinion as a professional man in rela- 
tion to the employment of fermented liquor as a beverage. 
But, if I venture one step further, it would be to express a be- 
lief that there is no single habit in this country which so much 
tends to deteriorate the qualities of the race, and so much dis- 
qualifies it for endurance in that competition which in the na- 
ture of things must exist, and in which struggle the prize of 
superiority must fall to the best and to the strongest." * 

And the last words which have been spoken on this subject 
from the physiological standpoint, are the utterance of the 
highest authority of his day," Dr. Benjamin W. Eichardson : 
" If it be really a luxury for the heart to be lifted up by alco- 
hol ; for the blood to course more swiftly through the brain ; 
for the thoughts to flow more vehemently ; for words to 
come more fluently; for emotions to rise ecstatically, and for 
life to rush on beyond the pace set by nature ; then those who 
enjoy the luxury must enjoy it, with the consequences." "If 
this agent do really for the moment cheer the weary and im- 
part a flush of transient pleasure to the unwearied who crave 
for mirth, its influence (doubtful even in these modest and 
moderate degrees) is an infinitesimal advantage, by the side of 
an infinity of evil for which there is no compensation, and no 
human cure." f 

"The evils, in the slighter stages of alcoholic diseases, are 
often connected with others, which are perhaps passing, but 
which give rise to very unpleasant phenomena. There is what 
is called a dyspepsia or indigestion, to relieve which the suf- 
ferer too frequently resorts to the actual cause of it as a cure 
for it. There is thirst, there is uneasiness of the stomach, flat- 
ulency, and a set of so-called nervous phenomena, which keep 
the mind irritable, and make trifling cares and anxieties as- 
sume an exaggerated and unnatural character. From the ear- 
liest period in the history of the drinking of alcohol these 
phenomena have been observed. 'Who/ says Solomon, refer- 
ring to this action, ' who hath woe ? who hath contentions, 

* Open Letter to the Abp. of Canterbury. 
t Cantor Lectures, pp. 121, 179. 



22 Alcohol in History. 

who ha tli babbling, who hath wounds without cause? who 
hath redness of eyes ? ' What modern physiologist could define 
better the steady and progressive effect of alcohol upon those 
who, even under the guise of temperate men, trust to it as a 
support ? And yet these evils are minor, compared with cer- 
tain I have to bring forward. 46 

" Listen carefully to the whole argument of science as she tells 
you her mind fairly and faithfully. She tells you nothing what- 
soever about the devil and his devices, but; that there is, as 
claimed, a certain degree of moderation which does not seem to 
be attended with much evil, if it be closely followed. She 
grants that the moderate of the moderates may have a rule nisi. 
She says to a man of sound health : if you are in a first-rate con- 
dition of body, if you can throw off freely a cause of oppression 
and depression, if you are actively engaged in the open air, if 
you have nothing to do that requires great exactitude or preci- 
sion of work, if you are not subjected to any worry of niiixl or 
mental strain, if you sleep well, if you are properly clothed and 
are not exposed to excesses of heat or cold, if your apxietite is 
good and you can get plenty of wholesome food ; if you are 
favored with all these advantages, then yon may indulge in Dr. 
Parker's moderate potation of wine, or beer, or spirit. But these 
favorable conditions are all necessary. If you are limited in re- 
spect to exercise, if you are of sedentary habits, if you are much 
worn or reduced in mind, body, or estate, then that small 
amount of alcohol is adding to all your troubles, and you will 
leave it off if you are wise. 

"I can imagine with what pleasure some of the world of 
pleasure may receive such tidings as these. The salt of the 
earth, and the salt is good, can then enjoy its luxury, just as it 
can keep a carriage, a livery servant, a horse, or any other un- 
necessary, but pleasant extravagance. It can take wine in 
moderation. What more is required? Science, in her most 
puritanical utterances, gives, so far, her consent. 

" It is quite true, but take her consent with her provisions, 
equally true and very solemn. 

u Science says, you who can afford the luxury may use it with 
the perfect understanding that it is a luxury. Positively, sol- 
emnly, it is never a necessity, and if the expression of truth be 
absolutely rendered, you are better and safer without even the 
moderate indulgence." f 

"To conclude. From my readings of Science, she gives no 
countenance to the use of strong drink in any sense, except nied- 

* Ibid. p. 148. | Lecture on Moderate Drinking, pp. 31, 32. 



The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined. 23 

ically and under scientific direction. She faithfully records its 
evils; she honestly exposes its dangers ; she exi)oses the gross 
and vain fallacies by which it is supported: and if, in her abso- 
lute fairness, she admits it under certain arbitrary restrictions 
as a luxury, she condemns it as a traitorous evil." * 

" The physician can find no place for alcohol as a necessity 
of life. In whatever direction he turns his attention to deter- 
mine the value of alcohol to man, beyond the sphere of its value 
as a drug, which he may at times prescribe, he sees nothing but 
a void ; in whatever way he turns his attention to determine the 
persistent effects of alcohol, he sees nothing but disease and 
death ; mental disease, mental death ; physical disease, physical 
death." f 

III. The stubborn facts brought to light in the experi- 
ences of Life Insurance Companies, facts elicited and pub- 
lished, not in the interests of philanthropy, but as the basis 
of economic business transactions, confirm the fore^oin^ 
statements of physicians. 

One of the oldest and most successful life insurance 
societies in the old world, is largely indebted for its success 
to its requirement of eleven per cent, extra on the annual 
premiums of beer drinkers. When this demand was first 
made, it so excited the hostility of the publicans and their 
customers, that they formed a new company, exclusively for 
themselves. So great and so rapid, however, w T as the mor- 
tality, that the company failed in five years. 

In 1840, " The United Kingdom Temperance and Gen- 
eral Provident Institution," was organized in London. 
For the first ten years of its existence policies were issued 
to total abstainers only; since 1850, moderate drinkers 
have been allowed to insure, their accounts being kept 
separate and distinct from the total 'abstainers' accounts. 
The Actuary of the Company, into whose hands the books 
are placed once in five years, is not a total abstainer ,• his 
figures, therefore, are not open to the suspicion of being 
made in the interests of total abstinence. The following is 
one of his reports : 

* Ibid, p. 46. f The Diseases of Modern Life, pp. 209, 210. 



24 



Alcolwl in History. 



MORTALITY, 1871-75. 



TEMPERANCE. 


GENERAL. 


Year. 


Expected. 


Actual,. 


Expected. 


Actual. 




No. [Amount 


No. 


Amount. 


No. 


Amount 


No. Amount. 


1871... 

1872... 
1873... 
1874... 
1875... 


127 £24,051 
137j 26,058 
144 28,052 
153 : 29,648 
162 32,010 

723^139,819 


72 

90 

118 

110 

121 

511 


£13,065 
13,005! 
22,860' 
24,683 ! 
24,160 

£97,773 


! 233 
244 
253 
263 
273 


£46,105 

48,883 
51,463 
54,092 
56,907 


217 
282 
246 
288 
297 


£40,158 
50,575 
49,840 
57,006 

57,483 


5 Years 


1, 266 £257,450 


1,330 


£255,062 



The result is an unmistakable argument for total absti- 
nence, and a plain warning against moderate drinking : the 
deaths in the Temperance Section being 212 less than was 
expected, while in the Moderates Section they were 64 
more than were expected ! * The Company has accumulated 
a surplus of £348,458, which is distributed as a bonus on 
the policies in force, at the rate of from 35 to 114 per cent. 
to the abstainers, and from 20 to 64 per cent, to the non- 
abstainers, both classes being governed by age and the 
amount paid by them in premiums. For five years the 
bonus additions on ordinary whole-life policies for £1,000, 
have been according to the following examples : 











Bonus added 


Bonus added 


Date ot 


Age at 


Premiums 


Paid, 


to each £1,000 in 


to each £1 000 in 


Policy. 


Entrance. 


1871-18/ 


'y. 


Temperance Section 


General Section. 






£ s. 


d. 


£ 8. d. 


£ 8. d. 


1871 


15 


83 2 


6 


16 14 


43 10 


it 


20 


93 6 


8 


80 16 


46 1 


u 


25 


106 ' 9 


2 


85 16 


48 17 


a 


30 


122 1 


8 


90 8 


51 9 


" 


35 


138 19 


2 


94 18 


54 1 


u 


40 


162 5 


10 


100 12 


57 3 


u 


45 


188 10 


10 


107 10 


61 


a 


50 


226 5 





118 3 


67 6 


a 


iK) 


284 3 


4 


136 10 


77 10 



* From 1876 to 1881 the same uniformity of difference was 
manifest, 68 per cent, of mortality among the total abstainers, 
97 per cent, among the moderate drinkers. 



The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined. 25 

These facts require no comment. They are demonstrations 
of the folly of all mere theorizing on the absence of harm 
in moderate drinking. For it must not be forgotten that 
all in the above tables who are not total abstainers, are 
classed as moderate drinkers; those who use intoxicants 
beyond the bounds of so-called moderation being barred 
out from the possibility of being insured. 

In comparing the number of deaths which occurred in 
several of the most eminent Life Assurance Companies of 
England during the first five years of their existence, with 
the number occurring during the same period in the mem- 
bership of the Temperance Provident Institution, a period 
when the latter insured total abstainers only, we have the 
following showing of the dangers and folly of moderation, 
and the wisdom and safety of total abstinence : 

First Office issued 838 Policies, and had 11 deaths, being 13 per thousand. 
Second " " 1901 " " "27 " " 14 " 

Third " " 944 " " " 14 " " 15 " 

Fourth " " 2470 " " "65 " " 26 " 

Tern. Prov. Ins. " 1598 " " " 12 ■• " iy 2 " 

Dr. Richardson was not out of the way, then, w r hen he 
said : 

"I do not over-estimate the facts when I say that if such a 
miracle could he performed in England as a general conversion 
to temperance, the vitality of the nation would rise one-third in 
value; and this without reference to the indirect advantages 
which would of necessity follow." * 

In our country we are not yet able to present such class- 
ified tables, the only company that makes total abstinence 
a condition of insurance having but recently followed the 
English example of insuring moderate drinkers also, f But 
we are not wholly dependent on foreign sources for the prin- 
cipal fact which we are now seeking to state. " The 
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York/ 7 the largest 

* Lecture on Vitality in Men and Races, 1875. 
f See however, for further facts on this head, "Alcohol, What 
it is and What it Does," by Dr. Hargreaves. 



26 Alcohol in History. 



of our life insurance organizations, lias compelled its man- 
agers to cancel a large number of policies, and to make 
more stringent regulations for the future. It has found 
that to the interrogatory in the application for insurance : 
" Do you use intoxicating liquors ? n only one applicant in 
ten answers " no/' the others replying, " occasionally ," or 
" moderately." Not one admits that he is an habitual 
drinker, yet the death losses show that six-tenths are 
traceable directly or indirectly to the use of intoxicants ; 
and about the same proportion of the contested cases are 
from the same cause. In view of these facts, a circular was 
issued to the policy holders on the 17th of January, 1878, 
announcing the intention of the company to cancel all 
policies held by those who " practice habits which obviously 
tend to the shortening of life." In this circular they say : 

"This company contemplates no invasion ol the sanctity of 
private life, and no interference with the legitimate rights of 
the individual; but it cannot be blind to the fact that large 
numbers of deaths occur every year among those it has insured 
which are the direct results of intemperance ; that still larger 
numbers of deaths attributed to accidents, fevers, pneumonia, 
liver complaints, and disorders of the brain, stomach, and kid- 
neys, are the sequences of intemperate habits, and that it is 
under no legal liability to pay claims by deaths which are de- 
monstrably due to these causes. 

"At a meeting of the board of trustees, held in the month of 
December, 1877, these subjects were referred for consideration to 
a special committee, who, after due deliberation, unanimously 
adopted the following preamble and resolution : 

" ' Whereas, The mortuary statistics of this company unmis- 
takably point to an alarming and steadily increasing mortality 
from the use of intoxicating drinks, thereby prejudicing the in- 
terests of the policy holders of the company ; it is therefore 

" 'Resolved, That the executive officers be, and they are hereby 
instructed to strictly enforce the conditions contained in the 
application and policies; and with that end in view, that they 
be instructed to prepare a circular letter, setting forth the. duties 
and obligations of the assured.' 

•'The board of trustees have since unanimously adopted the 
action of the committee, and the executive officers were ordered 
to send such circular to every policy holder. 



The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined. 27 

" In taking this action the board of trustees are not to be un- 
derstood as casting any imputation upon the integrity or the 
habits of the great body of the insured. It is believed that the 
membership of this company, as a class, is superior in intelli- 
gence, sobriety, and thrift to that of any similar organization in 
this country, and any intention to enter the arena of debatable 
questions in religion, morals, or political economy is expressly 
disavowed ; this is purely a matter of business, in which the 
company relies for its protection on a proper administration of 
the law of contracts, 

IV. It is further obvious that so-called moderate drink- 
ing differs in nothing from, and is therefore included in, 
any just definition of Intemperance, from the fact that it is 
impossible to state what the moderate use of intoxicants 
is, even its advocates failing' to agree among themselves 
with regard to it. 

The late Dr, Anstie placed the moderate use of alco- 
holic drinks at u three-quarters of an ounce for an adult 
female, and an ounce and a-half for an adult male ; beyond 
this, is excess and intemperance." He adds: " For youths, 
say under twenty-five, whose bodily frame is as yet not 
fully consolidated, the proper rule is, either no alcohol, or 
very little indeed." 

The " Lancet," a high medical authority, attempts to lay 
down the rule, " That for young and active men a glass of 
beer, or one or two of claret, at dinner, is, we believe, an 
ample supply; while men of middle age may, with advan- 
tage, stop at the third glass of claret, sherry or port, and 
feel no ill result." Yet the writer is forced to admit that no 
accurate definition of moderation can be given; that "the 
ultimate test in every case, must be experience; and until 
men have enough moral control and discretion to limit their 
drinking to that which they absolutely require, all direction 
and rebuke will be thrown away." 

Dr. Sewell says that "the taking of a glass of mint-sling in 
the morning, of toddy at night, or two or three glasses of Ma- 
deira at dinner, is in common parlance termed ' temperate drink- 
ing.' " The London Standard " affirms that the taking of half a 



28 Alcohol in History. 

dozen glasses of wine, a glass of brandy and water, or two 
glasses of ale daily, is temperate drinking.' 7 Dr. Hun, still more 
liberal in his allowances, says, that " the drinking just so much 
as promotes the comfort and well-being of an individual, at any 
particular time, of which each person must be his own judge, 
is temperate drinking." 

Pliny tells us that Democritus wrote a volume to show 
that " no person ought to exceed four or- six glasses of 
wine." Epictetus declares, "That man is a drunkard 
who takes more than three glasses ; and though he "be net 
drunk, he hath exceeded moderation." A Temperance 
Society of the sixteenth century, of which more anon, al- 
lowed its members to drink fourteen glasses of wine daily. 
The Moderation Society started in New York, a few years 
ago, from which such great results were expected by Dr. 
Crosby, and by those who ignore all the lessons of ex- 
perience, was probably not as liberal in its indulgence as 
this, but even it failed to fix the limit between moderation 
and intemperance ; and no wonder, for the task is an im- 
possible one. 

The Right Honorable John Bright, in an u Address to 
Professing Christians," in 1843, argued this point in a plain 
and impressive manner, when he said : 

"To drink deeply — to be drunk — is a sin : this is not denied. 
At what point does the taking of strong drink become a sin ? 
The state in which a body is when not excited by intoxicating 
drink is its proper and natural state : drunkenness is the state 
farthest removed from it. The state of drunkenness is a state 
of sin : at what stage does it become sin ? We suppose a man 
perfectly sober who has not tasted anything which can intoxi- 
cate : one glass excites him, and to some extent disturbs the 
state of sobriety, and so far destroys it: another glass excites 
him still more : a third tires his eye, heats his blood, loosens his 
tongue, inflames his passions : a fourth increases all this : a 
fifth makes him foolish and partially insane : a sixth makes 
him savage : a seventh or eighth makes him stupid, a senseless, 
degraded mass ;— his reason is quenched, his faculties are 
for the time destroyed. Every noble and generous and holy 
principle within him withers, and the image of God is polluted 
and denied. This is sin, awful sin ! for ' drunkards shall not 



The Temperate and Moderation Plea Examined. 29 

inherit the kingdom of God.' But where does the sin begin f 
At the first glass, at the first step towards complete intoxication, 
or at the sixth, or seventh, or eighth ? Is not every step from 
the natural state of the system towards the state of stupid in- 
toxication an advance in sin, and a yielding to the unwearied 
tempter of the soul ? n 

The experience of any and every person who has become 
intemperate is also a corroboration of the statement that 
moderation is indefinable. No man can tell where in his 
own career the line should be run that marks the distinct- 
ion between his moderate and his excessive use of the in- 
toxicating cup ) while J30 great is the fascination and so 
thorough the delusion of the drinking habit that multitudes 
who have a general reputation of sottishiess, still pride 
themselves on their temperate lives and their ability and 
success in keeping within the limits of moderation. 

V. Add to all this that men affect others by the examples 
which they set, and that no example of sottishness . is ever 
contagious, but is never other than repulsive and disgusting, 
and we cannot fail to be convinced that so-called moderate 
drinking is the most mischievous and immoral of all use of 
intoxicating beverages ) the degree of its power to harm 
being determined by the respectableness and standing in 
society accorded to those who thus indulge. Our sons 
never will become drunkards, our daughters never will be 
in danger of becoming the wives of drunkards, when the 
only examples before them of the effects of drinking, are 
the disreputable who reel and stagger in their loathsome 
degradation. Respectable moderate drinking furnishes the 
chief and the most fascinating temptation, and before that 
they are in most imminent danger of falling. 

The following incident illustrates the truth of the fore- 
going statement : At a social gathering of clergymen, 
the fanaticism of the plea for total abstinence was strongly 
reprobated, and the superior virtue of temperance or moder- 
ation was extolled. Among others, a clergyman of ex- 
tensive learning and of large influence, was especially ve- 



30 Alcohol in History. • ^ 

hem cut in his plea for the moderate use of wine, and un- 
sparing in his invectives against fanatical total abstinence. 
At the close of his speech, which was warmly applauded, a 
layman who was present was asked to say a few words, 
and responded as follows : 

"It is not my purpose to answer the learned argument you 
have just listened to. My object is more humble, and I hope 
more practical. I once knew a father, in moderate circum- 
stances, who was at much inconvenience to educate a beloved 
son at College. Here his son became dissipated; but after he 
had graduated and returned to his father, the influence of 
home acting upon a generous nature, actually reformed him. 
The father was overjoyed that his cherished hopes of other 
days were still to be realized. Several years passed, when the 
young man having completed his professional study, and being 
about to leave his father to establish himself in business, was 
invited to dine with a neighboring clergyman, distinguished 
for his hospitality and social qualities. At this dinner wine 
was introduced and offered to this young man, who refused ; 
pressed upon him, and again refused. This was repeated, and 
the young man ridiculed for his peculiar abstinence. The young 
man was strong enough to overcome appetite, but he could not 
resist ridicule. He drank and fell ; and from that moment be- 
came a confirmed drunkard, and long since has found a drunk- 
ard's grave. I am that father, and it was at the table of the 
clergyman who has just taken his seat that his hospitality 
ruined the son I shall never cease to mourn." 

We conclude, therefore, that the arguments from Scrip- 
ture, health, longevity and example, necessitate the posi- 
tion that any use as a beverage, of that which intoxicates, 
is an intemperate use ; that temperance in regard to it is 
necessarily total abstinence 5 and that the definition given 
by Socrates, and nobly illustrated in the example set by 
his life, as according to Xenophon, " He was temperate by 
refusing on all occasions to prefer what is merely agreeable 
to what is best," * is the only just and consistent meaning 
of the word when employed, as in this case, to denote tem- 
perance in regard to the use of an ever dangerous and mis- 

* Memorabilia, B. iv. c. viii. v. 11. 



Substances for Producing Intoxicants. 31 

chievous poison. With the old philosopher agrees the 
great schoolman, St. Thomas Aquinas : 

" The temperate man does not use in any measure things con- 
trary to soundness or a good condition of life, for this would be 
a sin agaiust temperance ;" * *and the modern philosopher 
Hobbes : " Temperance is the habit by which we abstain from 
all things that tend to our destruction ; Intemperance the con- 
trary vice." f To which may be added the following from the 
Jewish Catechism: " Q. What is Temperance? A. Temper- 
ance consists in abstaining from all that is forbidden and sinful, 
and in the wise and prudent use of what is good and lawful." { 

Continuing to employ the word Intemperance to denote 
the use of alcoholic intoxicants as a beverage, and so 
leaving wholly out of the account any consideration of 
the intoxication produced by the use of opium, and other 
poisons, of whatever name, w r e shall be aided in our view 
of the long continued history of this evil, and also of the 
extent of its prevalence, by noticing the great variety of 
substances wdiich men have either fermented or distilled, 
in order to obtain the alcoholic poison. Of course the list 
does not claim to be exhaustive, but it is believed to be 
more full and accurate than has ever been given in any 
previous work of this character. 

Aloe. Agave Americana. — The fermented sap is called 
Actli, Ponchra, Pulque. It is used in Mexico, Paraguay, 
Peru and Spain. From this a fiery spirit is distilled, called 
Brandy Chinguerite, Vino Mercal and Mexical. u JPulqae" 
says Humboldt, " smells like putrid flesh." 

Amenata Muscaeia. — This is a mushroom, found in 
great abundance in various parts of the Russian empire. 
From it, by a disgusting process, an intense intoxicant is 
prepared. Morewood quotes Dr. Langsdorff, a Eussian 
physician, as authority for the statement that 

* Qucertio, cxl. De Temperantia. 
f Quoted in " Bacchus Dethroned," p. 175. 
t The Road to Faith, foi the use of Jewish Elementary Schools. 
By Dr. Henri Loeb." Philadelphia, p. 48. 



32 Alcohol in History. 

u The most extraordinary effect of the aminata is the change 
it makes in the urine, by impregnating it with an intoxicating 
quality, which continues to operate for a considerable time. A 
man moderately intoxicated to-day, will by the next morning 
have slept himself sober ; but, as is the custom, by drinking a 
cup of his own urine, he will become more powerfully intoxi- 
cated than he was the day preceding. It is therefore not un- 
common for confirmed drunkards to preserve their urine as a 
precious liquor, lest a scarcity in the fungi should occur. This 
inebriating property of the urine is capable of being imparted 
to others, for every one who partakes of it, has his urine simi- 
larly affected. Thus with a very few amanitse, a party of drunk- 
ards may keep up their debauch for a week. Dr Langsdorff 
states, that by means of the second person taking the urine of the 
first, the third that of the second, the intoxication may be pro- 
pagated through live individuals. The relation of Strahlenberg, 
that the rich lay up great stores of the amanitse, and that the 
poor, who cannot buy it, watch their banquets with wooden 
bowls, in order to procure the liquor after the second process, 
is fully confirmed by the statement of Langsdorff." * 

Ara. — An intoxicating pepper plant, of Borneo. The 
root is chewed, and on the spittle and masticated pulp, a 
little water or cocoanut milk is poured, and from the ferment 
that ensues a strong and quickly inebriating drink is pro- 
cured, greatly delighted in by the natives, f 

Apples. — The expressed juice is commonly called cider, 
but in Brazil, Kooi. It is made in the Barbary States, 
Brazil, Canada, Chili, France, Germany, Great Britain, 
Peru, Poland, Spain, Syria and the United States. Dis- 
tilled cider produces brandy ; and from the portion of cider 
which does not freeze when a large quantity is exposed to a 
low temperature, Pomona wine is made by adding brandy, 
in the proportion of one gallon of brandy to six gallons of 
cider. 

Artichoke, (Helianthus tiiberosus.) — Raised in North- 
ern France, for distillation, and produces a strong spirit. 

* History of Inebriating Liquors, by Samuel More wood, edi- 
tion of 1838, pp. 129, 130. 
t Ibid, p. 313. 



Substances for Producing Intoxicants. 33 

Aots. — In Sweden a large species of black ant, which 
produces on distillation a resin, oil and acid, is used to give 
a special flavor and power to brandy. These ants* are 
found in great abundance, making their hills at the roots 
of the fir tree.* 

Algobara. — A shrub like the acacia, from the pods of 
which the Peruvians make Chica. 

Almonds. — From the fruit of the dwarf almond, the 
Russians distil a beverage. 

Aipim ikakaea. — A species of Manioc, in Brazil. From 
the roots a kind of wine called Aipy, is prepared. The 
roots are first sliced and chewed by women, then put into a 
pot of water and boiled. The liquor, after fermentation, 
is drunk lukewarm.f 

Ananas. — From this wild fruit in Brazil, brandy is dis- 
tilled. 

Arrachaca. — A vegetable cultivated in Paraguay. 
Produces a fermented drink. 

Bananas. — Ripe bananas are infused in water by the 
Peruvians, and from this ferment a drink is distilled. In 
Madagascar the fermented liquor is used. 

Barberries. — Wine, in Hungary. 

Barley. — A fermented drink was made in Egypt, to 
which was given the several names, Ceres Vinum, Ceria, 
Ceroisa, Goelia, Curmi, and Zythum. It was also an ingre- 
dient with curds, honey and melted butter, in making Sura, a 
powerful intoxicant concocted by the ancient Aryan races 
of India. The Greeks also had their u wine made from 
barley," described hy Ovid as a strong drink. In Syria 
and throughout the Turkish Empire common drinks are 
brewed from barley, and called Bouza and Zythum. In 
Arabia the drink made from fermented barley is called 
Curnii ; in Nubia, Bouza, Merin and Ombelbel, each name 

* Consetts' Remarks on a Tour tlirough Sweden, 
tMorewood, p. 315. 
3 



34 Alcohol in History. 

denoting a certain degree of fermentation ; in Abyssinia it 
is callen Swoir, or Sowa, and wlien drags are mixed with 
it fof the purpose of producing more rapid intoxication, it is 
called Sava. In various parts of Ethiopia, barley is the 
basis of a drink called Maiz, which is sometimes made very 
strong and distilled to brandy. In Southern Africa barley 
is also made into beer and porter. In Tartary the drink is 
called Bakscuni ; in Thibet, Chong ; and a powerful intox- 
icant is distilled from Chong called Arra ; in China, Tar- 
asun ) in Russia, beer, quass, brandy ; in Holland, beer: and 
distilled, is largely used in the manufacture of gin. Aus- 
tria, Spain, France, Germany, ' Denmark, beer • Ireland, 
Curmi, Leann 5 Great Britain, British North America and 
the United States, beer, ale, porter 5 France, beer; Nor- 
way and Sweden, beer, brandy 5 Caucasus and Siberia, 
brandy 5 Brazil, Kaviaraku ; Peru, Cluro, Neto, Sora. 

Batata Root. — A fermented liquor in Brazil, called 
Vintro de Batatas, 

Beets. — Experiments in extracting the saccharine pro- 
perties of beets have been made in various portions of Eu- 
rope and America, but no where so successfully as in France, 
where the fermented juice is manufactured into ale, and 
distilled, producing strong spirits. 

Birch Sap. — A fermented drink is made in England, 
Japan, Norway and Siberia. 

Cashew-Nut. — From the fermented juice brandy is dis- 
tilled, in the West Indies. 

Cassada. — This root of the Manioc plant is the base of 
a fermented drink in the East and West Indies, called in 
some places Piworree, in others Ouycon. It is made by 
the females chewing the root and flowers, and spitting them 
into a wooden trough. This, with water added, soon runs 
into fermentation and yields the intoxicant. It is also 
made from the cassava bread, chewed and treated in the 
same manner.* 

* Morewood, p. 319. 



Substances for Producing Intoxicants. 35 

Cava. — Before the appearance and influence of the 
missionaries, the natives of the Friendly Islands produced 
an intoxicant from the root of the cava plant, a species of 
pepper, in the following manner : 

" The root is scraped, cut into small pieces and distributed 
among the people to be chewed. In some places, says Rotzebue, 
only the old women do the chewing, but the young women spit 
on it to thin the paste. The chewing of each mouthful occupies 
about two minutes, and when thus masticated it is placed in a 
wooden bowl, where it is mixed with water by the men ; then 
being strained and clear, about a pint is given to each person 
to drink." * 

Capt. Cook states, in his account of his third voyage to 
the Friendly Islands : 

u I have seen the natives drink it seven times before noon ; yet 
it is so disagreeable, or at least seems so, that the greatest part 
of them cannot swallow it without making wry faces, and shud- 
dering afterwards." 

Cebatha Berries, — From these the Jews of Arabia 
make a strong spirit. 

Cherries. — In Turkey, a distilled liquor called Mar- 
aschino ; in Switzerland, also distilled, Kirschenwasser ) in 
Russia, mead, wine. 

Cocoaxut Milk. — In India and the East and West 
India Islands, a fermented drink is made, and is distilled 
to resemble Arrack. In Peru a fermented drink is ob- 
tained from boiling the leaves and the stems to which the 
nuts are attached. 

Dates, axd the juice oe the Palm. — Wherever 
the date palm is found, its fruit is highly prized as food j 
and is, as is also the sap of the numerous varieties of the 
palm tree, converted into a beverage. Unfermented, these 
drinks are sweet ? delicious to the taste, and healthful ; if 
however, the liquor is not deprived of its watery parts by 
evaporation in boiling, it soon ferments, and will produce 
intoxication. It is not certain, therefore, that in all 

* Morewood, p. 250. 



36 Alcohol in History. 

cases where palm or date wine are mentioned, an intoxicat- 
ing drink is to be understood ; but it is probable that all 
people who prepare it and do not prevent its ferment- 
ation, use it both while it is new, and after it has become 
intoxicating 5 and it is known that some who boil it after- 
wards mix water with it for the purpose of producing fer- 
mentation. As an intoxicant it is used or has been used 
in the following countries : In Syria it had the name of 
Shecliar, a word which denotes all manufactured chinks 
whether intoxicating or otherwise, except wine. The 
Greeks had their palm wine. A liquor distilled from 
dates by the Christians in Syria, is called Araki • the 
Egyptians distil a liquor called Arrack ; the Kubians drink 
the fermented wine, and also distil it ; the Abyssinian s call 
their drink made of dates and meal, Amderku ; the inhab- 
itants of Fezzan prepare an intensely fiery spirit from dates 
called Busa ; on the western coast of Africa, five kinds of 
wine are manufactured from as many varieties of dates • on 
the Gold Coast there are four varieties ; at Sierra Leone 
there are three kinds. Livingstone found the natives of 
South Africa intoxicated on a liquor called Malova which 
they manufactured from the juice of the palm oil-tree. 

The Jews of Morocco distil brandy from dates • in East- 
ern Africa the fermented drink is used, and brandy is also 
distilled ; in the Barbary States the drink is called date 
tree water ; the Jews there also prepare a kind called 
Laghibi ; and in other portions of Africa it is known as 
Ballo Ccecuta Congo, Embeth Kriska, Lugrus, Pali Par- 
don or Bardon. In several of the states of farther India 
the palm juice is distilled into Arrack ; in several of the 
East Indies the fermented juice is called Soura ; in others 
Talwagen and Vellipatty. In Java and Amboyna a spirit 
is distilled from Tyffering, the fermented fruit of a variety 
of the palm called Sagwire, so strong and fiery that the 
drinkers call it " hell water." In Manilla and Mindora from 
another species of palm is procured a drink called tuba • 
in China, cha ) in Japan, brandy j in Surinam, wdne. 



Substances for Producing Intoxicants. 37 

Eldeh Bekries. — A fermented and also a distilled 
Bpirit is made from them in Hungary 5 in Tartary, arraki ; 
in England, wine. 

Epilobium. — Ale, in Russia. 

Fias. — A distilled liquor called Mahayah, is extracted 
from figs by the Jews of Morocco; from damaged figs 
brandy is distilled in Portugal. 

Flesh of Lambs. — In China, a beer or wine. 

Flesh of Sheep. — Tartary, a beer or wine ; Afgha- 
nistan, beer ; China a distilled spirit called Kan-yang-tsye w. 

Gagahogttha. — A fruit of Southern Africa, from which 
the Caffres make wine. 

Gbapes. — Wine in Palestine, Syria, India, Egypt, 
Greece, Rome ? Arabia, Abyssinia, Barbary States, Persia, 
Peru, Chili, France, Germany, Italy ; in *short in all the 
countries where the grape grows, Pliny reckoned about 
one hundred and ninety-five sorts of wine in use in his day ; 
Henderson, in his History of Ancient and Modem Wines, 
published in 1824, gives the names of seventy-eight 
varieties of the former, and three hundred and fifty-nine of 
the latter ; Redding on Ancient and Modern Wines, pub- 
lished in 1851, enumerates eighty varieties of ancient^ and 
eleven hundred and seventy-nine of modern wines; the 
American edition of Dr. B. W. Richardson's Cantor Lec- 
tures on Alcohol, gives the names of forty-four varieties of 
ancient Roman wines, and ninety-five varieties of modern 
wines. It would be impossible to give an exact and ex- 
haustive list. 

Grape Skins and Refuse. — In Arabia the Jews and 
Christians distil Arrack; Abyssinia, brandy; Eastern 
Africa, brandy ; Germany, Troster, which mixed with 
ground barley or rye, makes a fermented drink. 

Hemp. — In India the seeds are fermented for a beverage 
called Brag. 

Honey. — In Nubia, honey is diluted with water, boiled, 
and then fermented in the sun, when it is called Hydromel ; 
the Abyssinians prepare it in a similar way ? and also pro- 



38 Alcohol in History. 

duce a very intoxicating liqnor from potatoes and honey. 
Fermented honey is said to be distilled to brandy in some 
of the Barbary States. The Tartars make a fermented 
drink called Ball 5 in Caffaria, by fermenting honey with 
the juice of a native root, an intoxicating mead is produced; 
the Hottentot does the same by mixing it with a plant 
called g-Ii ; German distillers employ it in making Rosolis,, 
as do also the Italians. In Ireland, Eastern Africa and 
Persia, it is called mead ; in Southern Africa, Hydromel ; 
in Russia,, Metheglin \. in Madagascar, Toak ; and a mead 
which requires several years before it comes to perfection, 
is made from it in Poland. 

JlSF-JlK-M Root. — In Central Africa, a fermented 
drink. 

Juniper Berries. — In France. Juniper wine ; in Hol- 
land and other countries where gin is manufactured, they 
are a prominent ingredient in that liquor. 

Lemon Flowers. — In China a drink is distilled from 
the flowers of a species of lemon tree. 

Lotus Berries. — In Africa and China, wine. 

Madluca Flowers. — Mentioned in the Institutes of 
Menu, as producing one of the three inebriating liquors of 
the Hindoos. 

Magtje. — A fruit in Peru, resembling the cherry, from 
which a wine is made called Theka. 

Mae^ahnyeye. — A fruit resembling guava, growing 
in Eastern Africa, from which the natives make a fermented 
drink called Wocahyeye. 

Malle. — The berries of a tree in Peru, from which is 
made a wine called Malle. 

Mandioch Posione.— A root resembling a chestnut in 
taste, found in Paraguay, from which is made a drink 
called Mandebocre. 

Manioe. — At Sierra Leone a fermented drink } Peru, 
Kiebla, and when distilled Puichin j Mexico, Masato. 

Maize. — Egyptians, Bonza, Curmij Arabs, Bonzaj 
Bourn on, Sza ) Badagary, Gear 5 Congo, Guallo j African 



Substances for Producing Intoxicants. 39 

Slave Coast, Southern Africa, Whidah, beer; Eastern 
Africa, Epeahla ; Mexico, Demaize, Pinole, Pulque ; Chili, 
Paraguay, beer: Thibet, Chong ; Eussia, Siberia, brandy ; 
Brazil, Kaviaraku; Surinam, Ckiacor; United States, Prus- 
sia, Denmark; whiskey; Peru, Chica. Chica is made by 
pounding maize to a fine powder and placing it in a heap, 
around which a number of females sit, and chew the ma- 
terial into a kind of paste. After chewing it is rolled 
between the hands into round balls, which, being placed in 
the form of a pyramid, are baked in the fire, and then 
immersed in water, where they ferment and form the intox- 
icating draught.* 

Miengoist. — A fruit in Tonquin, resembling the pome- 
granate, produces cider. 

Milk.— Mare's milk is distilled by the Tartars and 
Calmucks, and nearly all the tribes of Central Asia, and 
when sufficient cannot be obtained, recourse is had to the milk 
of cows, camels, and sheep. It receives the names of Airen, 
Arjan, Caracosmus, Koumiss, Skhon, Vina and Yaouste. 
In Iceland, fermented milk is called String', and fermented 
whey, Syra ; in Lapland it is Prima ; Siberia, Koumiss ; 
Afghanistan, Sihee. 

Millet. — In Egypt, a drink called Curmi ; Dahomey, 
and other countries on the African Slave Coast, Pitto ; 
Eastern Africa, beer, Huyembo or Puembo. Southern 
Africa, beer, Ballo, Pombie; Central Africa, Kissery, Otee ; 
Circassia, Hautkups, Soar ; Yantzokbl ; China, Sew-heng- 
tsow ; Sau-tchoo ; Tartary, Baksoum, Busa; Corea, wine; 
Russia, beer, Braga. 

Molle. — A fruit in Chile, of the color and shape of 
pepper, a red wine called Huigan. 

Motherwort. — From the flowers the Japanese distil a 
drink called Sacki. 

Mulberries. — In the Island of Chios, brandy ; Russia, 
wine. 

* Morewood, p. 293. 



40 Alcohol in History. 

Mutillas. — A species of myrtle berry in Peru, from 
which is made Chica de Mutilla ; and from the fruit of 
Myrtus luna, another species of myrtle, the Chilians make 
wine. 

Oats. — Norway, Siberia, brandy ; Russia, beer, Braga, 
Quass. 

Oranges. — China, cordial ; Spain, wine. 

Peaches. — From the blossoms Sacki is distilled in Ja- 
pan. From the fruit, brandy in America 5 wine in Russia. 

Pears. — The Jews of Morocco, brandy ; Hungary, wine ; 
Russia, Perry, wine ; England, Perry. 

Pitatjga. — A species of myrtle in Brazil; a spirit is dis- 
tilled from its berries. 

Persimmons.— Southern parts of United States, beer ; 
brandy. 

Plantains.— In Peru a fermented drink called Masato, 
which they often distil. 

Plums. — Cacongo, Central Africa, Japan, England, wine • 
Hungary, Schliwowitza ; Tartary, Arraki. 

Pomegranate. — In Persia, wine. 

Potatoes. — In Germany, Prussia, Hungary, Norway, 
Sweden, France, Great Britain, North America, fermented 
and distilled drinks. 

Psak. — Berries in Tartary resembling dates, Bursa. 

Raisins. — An intoxicant is made from fermented raisins, 
in Arabia; Syria, Eastern Africa, and by the Jews of 
Morocco, brandy ; from damaged raisins brandy is distilled 
in Portugal. 

Raspberries. — In Russia, mead. 

Rhododendron. — In Siberia the steeped leaves make 
what is called Intoxicating Tea. 

Rice. — One of the three inebriating drinks made by the 
ancient Hindoos. Modern India, Phaur; China, wines 
which take different names from their respective colors, and 
from the lees they distil Sam-tchoo ; Tarquin and Cochin 
China, wine and Arrack ; Japan, a strong beer called 
Sacki, and Mooroo-facoo, Samtchoo and Sotschio, distilled 



Substances for Producing Intoxicants. 41 

drinks; Tartary, Caracina or Teracina ; Thibet, a fermented 
drink, called Cliong ; and a distilled, Arm ; Japan, its 
various distilled qualities are called Badek, Brom, Kiji, 
Sieliew, Tanpo. Central Africa, Ballo; Thibet, Chong; 
Manilla, Pangati ; Eastern Africa, Corea, wine ; Russia, 
beer ; Siam, Sumatra, Corea, AiTack. In the interior of 
Formosa the women take a quantity of rice and boil it till 
it becomes quite soft, and then bruise it into a sort of paste. 
Afterwards they take rice flower, which they chew, and put 
with their saliva into a vessel by itself, till they have a 
good quantity of it. This they use as leaven or yeast, and 
mixing it with the rice paste, work it together like bakers' 
dough. The whole is then put into a large vessel, and 
having water poured over it, is suffered to stand for two 
months. Meanwhile the liquor works up like new wine, 
and the longer it is preserved the stronger it becomes. * 

Rye. — France, Prussia, Denmark, Siberia, Kamtschatka, 
Great Britain, America, whiskey ,• Holland, gin 5 Norway, 
brandy ; Russia, beer, Kisslyschtschy, Quass. 

Sater. — From this tree, resembling the cocoanut, a 
liquor called Araffer, is obtained in Madagascar. 

Sell ah. — An African plant, beer in Abyssinia. 

Sikgik Root. — Eastern Africa. 

Sloe Fruit. — In France a drink resembling whiskey 5 
Tartary, Arraki. 

Sloka trava. — A sweet grass in Kamtschatka, Raka. 

Strawberries. — Russia, mead. 

Sugar. — From the dregs, one of the three inebriating 
liquors made by the ancient Hindoos. 

Sugar Cane. — Upper Egypt, India, East and West 
Indies, New South Wales, Mexico, Brazil, North America, 
rum 5 East and West Indies, Tongare, Chilang j Peru, 
Guarapo. 

Tee Root. — Sandwich Islands, Y-wer-a. 

Tefe Plant. — Abyssinia, beer. 

* More wood, p. 235. 



42 Alcohol in History. 

Tocurso. — Abyssinia, beer. 

Voxtaca. — Madagascar, wine. 

Water Meloxs. — Russia, brandy. 

Wheat. — India, Pliaur 5 Congo, Guallo ; Prussia, white 
beei ) Holland, beer; Caucasus, brandy. 

Wines are also made from gooseberries, raspberries, straw- 
berries, cherries, mulberries, blackberries, quinces, peaches, 
and mountain ash berries ; and intoxicants have been pro- 
duced from parsnips, beets, and turnips. 

Eermexted axd uxeermexted Wixes. — Henderson, 
in his History of Ancient and Modern Wines , says that : " The 
invention of wine is enveloped in the obscurity of the earliest 
ages of the world. 77 This fact confronts all who attempt to 
investigate the subject, but it is not an insuperable barrier 
to a clear apprehension, statement and defence of the fact 
that a real distinction between unfermented and intoxicat- 
ing whines can be established by indisputable proof. To a 
brief statement in this direction we devote a few pages of 
this work. So much has been written and published on the 
subject, both in this country and elsewhere, since 1834, 
that anything more than hints at the results reached w 7 ould 
fill several large volumes. 

1. First, then, we notice this, that although the first 
account given in well authenticated history, of the use of 
wine, in the case of Noah, shows us that an intoxicating 
agent was known by that name, # the earliest notice of any 
mode of preparing wine, that given in the dream of Pha- 
raoh's butler, and the interpretation thereof by Joseph, f as 
clearly shows that an unintoxicating agent was also called 
wine. " I took the grapes/ 7 says the butler, " and pressed 
them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's 
hand. 77 " Thou shalt," says Joseph, in his interpretation of 
the dream, " deliver Pharaoh 7 s cup into his hand, after the 
former manner, when thou wast his butler. 77 In comment- 

>" • — — — • — — • 

* Genesis ix. 21. f Gen. xl. 9-13. 



Fermented and Unjermented Wines, 43 

ing on this passage the learned German, Rosenmuller, pro- 
duces historic proof to show that no other kind of wine was 
allowed to be used by Egyptian kings. 

2. A second significant fact is found in the institution 
and observance of the Jewish Passover. As originally 
instituted, (see Exodus xii. and xiii.) no mention is made of 
drink of any kind $ but it is expressly declared, that " who- 
soever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall 
be cut off from the congregation of Israel." * The late 
Prof. Stuart, has well said, that : 

" As the word translated eating, is. in cases innumerable, em- 
ployed to include a partaking of all refreshments at a meal, that 
is, of the drinks as weil as the food, the Kabbins, it would seem, 
interpreted the command just cited as extending to the wine as 
well as oread., of the Passover. * * * The Eabbius, therefore, in 
order to exclude every kind of fermentation from the Passover, 
taught the Jews to make a Trine from raisins or dried grapes 
expressly for that occasion, and this was to be drunk before it 
had time to ferment. * * * That the custom is very ancient, 
that it is even now almost universal, and that it has been so for 
time whereof the memory of man ramieth not to the contrary, 
I take to be facts that cannot be fairly controverted. * * * I 
am not able to find evidence to make me doubt that the custom, 
among the Jews of excluding fermented wine as well as bread, 
is older than the Christian era." f 

The Jews " are forbidden," says Allen (Modern Judaism, p. 
394), " to drink any liquor made from grain, or that has passed 
through the process of fermentation. Their drink is either pure 
water, or raisin tvine prepared by themselves." 

So also Hyam Isaacs, (Ceremonies of the Jetvs, p. 98,) 
says : 

1 ' Their drink during the time of the feast is either fair water, 
or raisin wine prepared by themselves, but no kiud of leaven 
must be mixed." 

"Mr. A. C. Isaacs, says: — u I spent among my own people six 
and twenty years of my life, and, prior to becoming a convert 
from the Jewish to the Christian faith, I sustained among 
them the office of Hebrew teacher. I can therefore speak con- 
fidently on the subject of your inquiries. All the Jews with 



* Exodus xii. 19. f " Bibliotheca Sacra," 1843, pp. 507, 508. 



44 Alcohol in History. 

whom I have ever been acquainted, use unintoxicating wine at 
the Passover, a wine made expressly for the occasion, and gener- 
ally by themselves. If it ever should he fermented, it is cer- 
tainly unknown to them, and against their express intention ; 
hut I never I knew it to exhibit any of the symptoms. " * 

The following American testimonies may be added : The 
late Judge M. M. Noah, of New York, after describing the 
manner in which raisin- wine is prepared, says : 

" This is the wine we use on the nights of the Passover, be- 
cause it is free from fermentation, as we are strictly prohibited, 
not only from eating leavened bread, but from drinking fermen- 
ted liquors." f 

To the same effect, the late Rev. Isaac Lesser, of Phila- 
delphia, a learned Rabbi, and translator of the Hebrew 

Scriptures, says : 

" For religious purposes, we uniformly exclude Gentile wines 
from the ceremonies. Hence in countries where the vine 
is not cultivated, we resort to artificial wines, such as raisin 
wine, &c. ; or even cider, lemonade, mead made of honey ; but 
seldom on such occasions do we employ spirituously fermented 
liquors ; and never, so far as my knowledge goes, on the Passover 
nights, when uniformly the unintoxicating preparations are used, if 
Jewish wine is not readily accessible. This is not, however, on 
temperance principles, but because all fermented liquors, of 
which grain is the basis, are leaven, and therefore strictly pro- 
hibited on the Passover. * f 

3. It is also true, as no one denies, that the Bible makes a 
discrimination between unintoxicating and inebriating wines, 
by its commendation of some as beverages, and its as 
emphatic condemnation of others. Unfortunately for the 
common reader, the thirteen different terms employed by 
the sacred writers to designate these varieties of beverages, 
are almost always rendered in our English version by the 
one word wine; and hence arises misunderstanding and 
confusion. 

* The above are all cited from Dr. F. R. Lees' Works, Vol. II. 
pp. 125, 170. 

t The Enquirer, December, 1841, p. 32. 
t Ibid, p. 29. 



Fermented and Unfermented Wines. 45 

" One of the greatest faults of our otherwise admirable ver- 
sion of the Bible," says an able writer in the Encyclopedia Bri- 
tannica, " is, that the translation of the same original word is 
often improperly varied at the expense of perspicuity ; while, 
on the other hand, ambiguity is sometimes occasioned by the 
rendering of two original words, in the same sentence, by only 
one English word ; which, however, is used in different mean- 
ings. Not only two, but thirteen different and distinct terms 
are translated by the word wine, either with or without 
the adjectives, ' new/ * sweet/ £ mixed/ and ' strong.' If the 
first rule for a translation, as laid down by Dr. George Camp- 
bell, be correct, — that the translation should give a complete 
transcript of the idea of the original — the common version must, 
on this point, be deemed exceedingly defective." 

A' minutely critical examination of this subject, necessi- 
tating tbe taking up of each of these Hebrew and Greek 
words, and examining its use in every instance where it is 
employed, would more than fill this volume, to the exclu- 
sion of everything else. # We content ourselves, therefore, 
with the summing up of the argument as given by Prof. 
Stuart in his Essay on the * Scripture View of the Wine 
Question : n 

" Wherever I find declarations in the Scriptures respecting any 
matter which appear to be at variance with each other, I com- 
mence the process of inquiry by asking whether these declara- 
tions respect the same object in the same circumstances ? Wine 
and strong drink are a good- a blessing, a token of divine favor, 
and to be ranked with corn and oil. The same substances are 
also an evil. Their use is prohibited; and woe is denounced 
on all who seek for them. Is there a contradiction here, — a 
paradox, incapable of any satisfactory solution ? Not at all. 
In the light of what has already been said, we may confidently 
say, — not at all. We have seen that these substances were em- 
ployed by the Hebrews in two different states : the one was a 

fermented state, the other an unfermented one. The ferment- 

<• 

* This work has been ably done by Dr. F. E. Lees, in his 
Works, especially in his " Commentary," and " Bible Wine Ques- 
tion ; " by Ritchie in his " Scripture Testimony against Wine ; v 
by Parsons, in his u Anti-Bacchus ; " by Miller, in his " Ne- 
phalism ; " and by others, to whom the reader is referred for 
more full information. 



46 Alcohol in History. 

ed liquor was pregnant with alcohol, and would occasion ine- 
briation, in a greater or less degree, in all ordinary circumstan- 
ces; and even where not enough of it was drunk to make this 
effect perceptible, it would tend to create a fictitious appetite 
for alcohol, or to injure the delicate tissues of the human body. 
The unfermented liquor was a delicious, nutritive, healthy bev- 
erage, well and properly ranked with corn and oil. It might be 
kept in that state by due pains, for a long time, and even go on 
improving by age. Is there any serious difficulty now in acquit- 
ting the Scriptures of contradiction in respect to this subject ? 
I do not find any. I claim no right to interfere with the judg- 
ment of others ; but for myself, I would say, that I can find no 
other solution of the seeming paradox before us. I cannot re- 
gard the application of the distinction in question between the 
fermented and unfermented liquors of the Hebrews, to the so- 
lution of declarations, seemingly of an opposite tenor, as any 
forced or unnatural means of interpretation. It simply follows 
suit with many other cases, where the same principle is con- 
cerned. Wine is a blessing, a comfort, a desirable good. 
When, and in what state ? Wine is a mocker, a curse, a thing 
to be shunned. When, and in what state ? Why, now, is not 
the answer plain and open before us, after we have taken a 
deliberate survey of such facts as have been presented? I can 
only say, that to me it seems plain, — so xDlain, that no wayfar- 
ing man need to mistake it. My final conclusion is this: viz., 
that wherever the Scriptures speak of wine as a comfort, a bless- 
ing, or a libation to God, and rank it with such articles as 
corn and oil, — they mean,— they can mean, only such wine as 
contains no alcohol that could have a mischievous tendency; 
that wherever they denounce it, prohibit it, and connect it 
with drunkenness and revelling, they can mean only alcoholic 
or intoxicating wine. I need not go into any minuteness of 
specification or exemplification, for the understanding of my 
readers will at once make the necessary discrimination and 
application. If I take the position that God's word and works 
entirely harmonize, I must take the position that the case befor 
us is such as I have represented it to be. Facts show that th> 
ancients not only preserved wine unfermented, but regarded i 
as of a higher flavor and finer quality than fermented wine ; 
Facts show that it was and might be drunk at pleasure with- 
out any inebriation whatever. On the other hand, facts show 
that any considerable quantity of fermented wine did and would 
produce inebriation ; and, also, that a tendency toward it, or a 
disturbance of the fine tissues of the physical system, was and 
would be produced by even a small quantity of it, full surely, 



Fermented and Uhfermented Wines. 47 

if this was often drunk. What, then, is the difficulty in taking 
the position, that good and innocent wine is meant in all cases 
where it is commended and allowed, or that the alcoholic or 
intoxicating wine is meant in all cases of prohibition and de- 
nunciation ? I cannot refuse to take this position without vir- 
tually impeaching the Scriptures of contradiction or incon- 
sistency. I cannot admit that God has given liberty to persons 
in health to drink alcoholic wine, without admitting that his 
word and works are at variance. The law against such drink- 
ing, which he has enstamped on our nature, stands out prom- 
inently, read and assented to by all sober and thinking men. 
Is his word now at variance with this ? Without reserve I am 
prepared to answer in the negative." 

4. The facts referred to in the foregoing extract, that the 
ancients preserved wine in an unfermented state, and they 
preferred it to all other beverages, are attested by numerous 
witnesses. 

Aristotle says of sweet wine: "It is wine in name, but not in 
effect ; for the liquor does not intoxicate. " "The wine of Arcadia, 
he says, i * was so thick, that it was necessary to scrape it from 
the skin bottles in which it was contained, and to dissolve the 
scrapings in water." 

Pliny says : " There is an intermediate thing between dulcia 
(sweets) and vi?ium (wine,) which the Greeks call ucigleuces.'' 

Discorides ranks, in his ' Materia Medica/ ' boiled wine/ 
under the head of i wine. 7 So also Pliny, Columella, and 
Theophrastus, pronounce that wine the best, which is nutri- 
tious and unintoxicating, a syrup which could have been 
prepared from the grape juice only before it had fermented, 
and which, to be used, must be diluted with water. Mod- 
ern travellers and observers testify to the same thing. 
Rev. Henry Homes, Missionary in Constantinople, said in 
the " Bibliotheca Sacra/ 7 May, 1848 : 

" Simple grape-juice, without the addition of any earth to 
neutralize the acidity, is boiled from four to five hours, so as to 
reduce it to one-fourth the quantity put in. * * * It, ordinarily, 
has not a particle of intoxicating quality, being used freely by 
both Mohammedans and Christians. Some which I have had 
on hand for two years has undergone no change. * * * In the 
manner of making and preserving it, it seems to correspond with 



48 Alcohol in History. 

the recipes and descriptions of certain drinks included by some 
of the ancients under the appellation, wine." 

In 1845, Capt. Treatt wrote : "When on the south coast of 
Italy, last Christmas, I inquired particularly about the wines in 
common use, and found that those esteemed the best were sweet 
and unintoxicating. The boiled juice of the grape is in common 
use in Sicily. The Calabrianskeep their intoxicating and unin- 
toxicating wines in separate apartments. The bottles were gen- 
erally marked. From inquiries I found that unfermented wines 
were esteemed the most. They were drank mixed with water. 
Great pains were taken, in the vintage season, to have a good 
stock of it laid by. The grape-juice was filtered two or three 
times, and then bottled, and some put in casks and buried in the 
earth. Some kept it in water (to prevent fermentation.)" * 

Mr. Delavan wrote to "The New York Observer," in 1840: 
"While I was in Italy I obtained an introduction to one of the 
largest wine manufacturers there, a gentleman of undoubted 
credit and character, and on whose statements I feel assured 
the utmost reliance can be placed. By him I was instructed in 
the whole process of wine-making, as far as it could be done by 
description, and from him I obtained the following important 
facts : 

" First, That with a little care, the fruit of the vine may be 
kept in wine countries free from fermentation for several 
months, if undisturbed by transportation. Wine of this charac- 
ter, he exhibited to me in January last, several months after the 
vintage. 

" Secondly, That the pure juice of the grape may be preserved 
free from fermentation for any length of time by boiling, through 
which the principle of fermentation is destroyed ; and in this 
state, may be shipped to any country, and in any quantity, 
without its ever becoming intoxicating. 

Thirdly, That in wine-producing countries unfermented wine 
may be made any day in the year. In proof of this the manu- 
facturer referred to, informed me that he had then in his lofts 
(January) for the use of his table till the next vintage, a quan- 
tity of grapes sufficient to make one hundred gallons of wine ; 
that grapes could always be had at any time of year to make 
the desirable quantity ; and that there was nothing in the way 
of obtaining the fruit of the vine free from fermentation in 
wine countries, at any period. A large basket of grapes were 

* Dr. Lees' Works, Vol. II. p. 144. See also many citations in 
his "Preliminary Discourse," in "Temperance Commentary. " 



Malt Liquors. 49 

sent to my lodgings which were as delicious and looked as fresh 
as if recently taken from the vines, though they had been picked 
for months. I had also twenty gallons made to order from these 
grapes, which was boiled before fermentation had taken place ; 
the greater part of which I have still by me in my cellar. As 
a further proof that new wine may be kept in its sweet and un- 
fermented state, I travelled with a few bottles of it in my car- 
riage over 2,000 miles, and upon opening one of the bottles in 
Paris, I found it the same as when first put up." * 

Subsequently, after keeping some of this wine in his 
cellar for years, he sent a bottle of it to Prof. Silliman, who, 
after subjecting it to chemical tests, reported that he could 
not find a particle of alcohol in it. 

Malt Liqiiors. — Ale or beer, is an Egyptian invention. 
It was first made u by pouring hot water on barley and 
allowing the fluid to ferment. It has been said that they 
called this drink i bouzy/ from Busiris, the name of a city 
which contained the tomb of the god Busiris or Osiris. So, 
says one of our quaint old authors, we get the term i bouzy/ 
which we apply to a man who has taken a great deal of 
beer, and whom we call a bouzy fellow. The word beer 
probably comes from barley, or from the Hebrew word bar, 
corn." f 

Browne, a modern traveller, says, that 

" The Egyptians still make a fermented liquor of maize, millet, 
barley and rice, but it bears little resemblance to our ale. It 
is of a light color, and in hot seasons will not keep above a 
day."} 

The ancient Britons also made beer, which, though for a 
time displaced by mead, the favorite Saxon beverage, be- 
came again, after the Norman conquest", the national beve- 
rage, and was especially brewed in large quantities at the 
monasteries, f From the law passed by the Plymouth Col- 

* The Enquirer j December, 1841, pp. 29, 30. 
tDr. Richardson's Temperance Lesson Book, p. 45. 
$ Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria, p. 2Q. 
§ Teetotaller's Companion, p. 20. 
4 



50 Alcohol in History. 

ony in 1G36, prohibiting the retailing of beer, it is evident 
that it was among the earliest beverages prepared in the 
New World. 

The manufacture of ale or beer at the present time, is by 
a similar process in all countries, which is thus described 
by Rev. James B. Dunn, who was at one time approached 
by some capitalists to take charge of a large brewing es- 
tablishment, and who, in order to inform himself on the 
subject, visited a brewery, and ascertained how beer was 
made. He says : 

" In the manufacture of good beer, as it is called, (I speak not 
now of the abominable adulterations, though they are common 
enough, ) three things are necessary : malt, hops, and water. 
The water, though useful, is not food. The hop gives flavor, 
and helps to preserve the liquor, but it contains no feeding pro- 
perties. To name its chemical constituents will suffice. These 
are volatile oil, resin— a bitter principle —tannin, malic acid, 
acetate, hydrochlorate, and sulphate of ammonia. The malt, 
then, is the only substance that can make the liquor feeding, 
either as it remains in the liquor, or as it may be converted into 
some other substance. Malt, we all know, is vegetated barley. 
Barley is food next in nutrition to wheat, and all we have to 
do is to ascertain how much of this feeding substance is found 1 
in the beer when men drink it. The brewing process will give 
us that ; in tracing which we shall find, that at every step the 
object is, not to secure a feeding, but an intoxicating liquor; 
and that to obtain this, the feeding properties of the barley are 
sacrificed at every stage. 

" In making a gallon of beer six pounds of barley are used, 
which, to commence with, is six pounds of nutritious food. In 
manufacturing this into beer, it has to undergo four processes, 
in every one of which it loses part of its nutriment . The first is 
malting, or sprouting. By this process the maiters spoil the 
barley of one-fourth of its nutriment, just in the same way as 
wheat is spoiled if it gets wet and sprouts in the field. Every 
housekeeper knows that when potatoes or onions sprout they 
lose much of their nutritive properties. The next process is that 
of mashing, by which a saccharine solution is extracted from 
pram, and here one-third of the barley is lost. Then follows 
the fermenting process, by which one-fourth of it is converted 
into alcohol. The fourth process is that of fining. People don't 
like thick or muddy beer ; and as some thick matter cannot be 



Mali Liquors. 51 

prevented coming over in mashing, the liquor is put to settle, 
and these settlings are disposed of as i barrel bottoms/ These 
bottoms are really parts of the barley, and here is another loss. 
Now, in this gallon of beer, how much of the barley is there 
left? At the outset you had some six pounds, or ninety-six 
ounces. What is there now f Less than ten ounces. The truth of 
this you can easily ascertain. Get a pint of ale or beer, and place 
it in a saucepan, then gently boil it over the fire. The fluid 
part will go — the solid part will remain. Thus every grain of 
solid matter can be obtained, and its properties and amount 
fully ascertained. Scientific men have frequently made the 
experiment, and by careful tests demonstrated that the aver- 
age quantity of solid matter found in a gallon of malt liquor is 
less than ten ounces. So that in manufacturing ale or beer 
you actually lose very nearly eighty parts out of eighty-eight, 
and all that you obtain in the place of it is upward of three 
ounces of alcoholic poison, and which constitutes the strength 
of the liquor. What would you think of the man who should buy 
ninety-six ounces of wheat, making it sprout, drying it, pour- 
ing hot water upon it, giving a part to the pigs, and throwing 
a part down the gutter — should waste upward of eighty ounces, 
and should leave for himself and family only ten ounces ? 
What if he did this for the purpose of getting about four ounces 
of poison, which will injure his health, destroy his reason, and 
corrupt his heart ? Would you say that God sent the grain to 
be thus wasted, or would you call the poison which the inge- 
nuity of this prodigal had extracted, * a good creature of God ? ' 
Much has been said of waste and extravagance, but we know 
of no instance or example that will bear any parallel with the 
prodigality that is practiced in converting barley into malt, 
and malt into beer. * * * * What, then, we ask, is there to 
support or to strengthen a man in a pint of ale or beer ? Its 
contents are fourteen ounces of water, part of one ounce of the 
extract of barley, and nearly an ounce of alcohol. The water 
and alcohol go immediately into the veins, and while the alco- 
hol poisons, the water, if not needed, unnecessarily dilutes the 
blood, overcharges the vessels, and loads the kidneys and blad- 
der ; while there remains less than an ounce of indigestible ex- 
tract of malt, which has been grown, roasted, scalded, boiled, 
embittered, fermented, and drenched with water and alcohol 
till it seems unfit for the brute, far less the human stomach. 
Yet this is all that is left in the stomach to be digested." * 

* Tract No. 26, National Temperance Society. 



52 Alcohol in Histoiy. 

With this statement in regard to nutrition, agrees the 
judgment rendered by the great chemist, Baron Liebig : 

" In the brewing of beer a separation takes place between 
the sanguigenous (nutritive) matters of the barley, and the 
starch. Of the former, those portions which dissolve in the wort, 
and are separated as yeast during the fermentation, are lost for 
the purpose of nutrition. We can prove, with mathematical cer- 
tainty, that as much flour as can lie on the point of a table knife, is 
more nutritious than eight quarts of the best Bavarian Beer ; that a 
person who is able daily to consume that amount of beer, obtains 
from it, in a whole year, in the most favorable case, exactly the 
amount of nutritive constituents which is contained in a 5 lb. 
loaf of bread, or in 3 lb. of flesh." 

Dr. E. Lankester says, " Beer contains but one per cent of 
nutritive matter, and is not a thing to be taken for nutrition at 
all." Professor Lyon Playfair says, " 100 parts of ordinary beer 
or porter contains 9h parts of solid matter, of which only about 
one-half part consists of flesh-forming matters ; in other words, 
it takes 1.666 parts of ordinary beer to obtain one part of nour- 
ishing matter." * 

A similar confession is made by the brewers and beer 
sellers of Great Britain. After a series of experiments 
which resulted in demonstrating that ale or beer can be 
made from sugar much cheaper than from malt, the sanc- 
tion of government was sought for the substitution of sugar 
and molasses for malt ,• and the question was debated to the 
public in the columns of the u Morning Advertiser" the 
avowed organ of the brewers, distillers, and publicans. In 
the issue for October 30, 1846, appeared the following : 

" With respect to the quality of beer made from sugar, all who 
have tried it declare that it possesses the same qualities as the 
beer from malt. . . . By some it may be supx)osed that the 
working man will lose a nutritive beverage, but this is a mis- 
apprehension of the subject. After fermentation no albumen, or 
flesh-forming principle remains in the liquor, which has now become 
vinous. . . . As to spirits, those [already] produced from 
sugar [as rum] are well known ; and no question can be raised 

* Alcohol : Its Combinations, &-c, by Col. J. G. Dudley, pp. 38, 
39. ■ . 



Malt Liquors. 53 

in regard to comparative properties of nutrition, since all kinds 

arc equally deficient." * 

No wonder then that Martin Luther said : 

< ' The man who first brewed beer was a pest for Germany. Food 
must be dear in all our land, for the horses eat up all our oats, 
and the peasants drink up all our barley in the form of beer. I 
have survived the end of genuine beer, for it has now become 
small beer in every sense ; and I have prayed to God that he 
might destroy the whole beer-brewing business ; and the first 
beer-brewer I have often cursed. There is enough barley 
destroyed in the breweries to feed all Germany." 

The percentage of alcohol in ale or beer differs in the 
several varieties. Dr. Edward Smith, in his work on 
" Foods," says : (p. 412.) 

" It bears a relation to the amount of saccharine matter 
which was fermented in the brewing. Brande in his day found 
4.20 per cent, of alcohol (specific gravity 0.825,) in porter ; 8.88 
per cent, in ale ; and 6.80 per cent, in brown stout. At the pre- 
sent day there may be 10 per cent, in the strong East India pale 
ale, and 15 to 20 per cent, in many old home-brewed ales, stored 
for private use ; but usually the amount varies from 5 to 7 per 
cent, in moderately good ales, and may be only 1 to 3 per cent, 
in small beer. Hence, one pint of strong home-brewed ale may 
contain as much alcohol as is found in several bottles of good 
claret wine ; but as a general expression, a pint of good ale is 
equal in that respect to a bottle of fairly good claret." 

Dr. Richardson says : " Some specimens of ales and stouts 
contain as much as ten per cent, of alcohol, and in very strong 
old ale that quantity may be exceeded. There is, however, a 
great deal of trickery played with the ale which is commonly 
sold in retail, so that it is difficult to arrive at any correct stand- 
ard. I had once the duty of determining the quantity of alcohol 
in an immense number of specimens of ales vended from the 
London public-houses during the dinner hours of working-men. 
In many of these samples the alcohol presented did not exceed 
five per cent, and in a few instances it was actually as low as 
four per cent. The reason of this was, that at the particular 
time of the day named, the fresh beer in the casks was espec- 
ially diluted with water, containing a little treacle and salt, so 
as to reduce the strength and increase the profit." f 

* Teetotaller's Comp anion, pp. 444, 445. 
f Temperance Lesson Book, pp. 92, 93. 



54 Alcohol in History. 

According to Dr. Bence Jones, from tests made with the 
Alcoholometer, u New bitter ale contains C to 12 per cent, 
of alcohol 5 porter, 6 to 7 per cent. ; stout, 5 to 7 per 
cent." * 

Prof. Wood, of the Harvard Medical School, finds in 
" Boston lager beer, from 5 J to 6 per cent, of Alcohol." t 

Mr. Henry H. Rueter, in his pamphlet entitled " Argu- 
ment in Favor of Discriminating Legislation regarding the 
sale of Fermented and Distilled Liquors — addressed to the 
Joint Special Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature 
on the sale of Intoxicating Liquors," claims the percentage 
of alcohol in different malt liquors to be as follows : 

" Ottawa " Beer contains 2.00 per cent. 

Average German Lager-beer " 3.80 " 

Common Massachusetts Lager-beer. c . " 4.00 " 

Common Massachusetts Ale " 4.10 " 

Average Massachusetts Ale " 5.20 " 

Home-brewed " Hop-beer" (made by 

farmers and private families from 

molasses and hops) " 5.50 " 

Strong Massachusetts Lager-beer " 5.80 " 

Common Cider " 6.10 " 

London Porter (imported) " 6.10 " 

Strong "Stock" Ale " 6.30 " 

London Ale (imported) " 6.80 " 

Dublm Porter (imported) " 7.00 " 

Edinburgh Ale (imported) " 7.50 " 

Let it not be forgotten that these large or small amounts 
of alcohol in these various beverages are none of them a 
natural production, but are invariably the result, — Baron 
Liebig being authority, — of " fermentation, putrefaction 
and decay." " These," he says, " are processes of decom- 
position, and their ultimate results are to reconvert the ele- 
ments of organic bodies into that state in which they exist, 
before tliey participate in the processes of life." " Fermen- 
tation," it is stated in Turner's Chemistry, edited by Lietig, 

* Dr. Lees' Text Book of Temperance, p. 47. 
t Alcohol and the State, p. 252. 



Distilled Liquors. 55 

u is nothing else but the putrefaction of a substance con- 
taining no nitrogen." The formation of alcohol/' says the 
great French chemist, A. F. Fourcroy, " takes place at the 
expense of the destruction of a vegetable principle : thus 
spirituous fermentation is a commencement of the destruc- 
tion of principles formed by vegetation." " Nature/ 3 says 
Count Chaptal, " never forms spirituous liquors ,• she rots 
the grape upon the branch, but it is art which converts the 
juice into wine." " Alcohol," said Dr. E. Turner, " is the 
intoxicating ingredient of all spirituous and vinous liquors. 
It does not exist ready formed in plants, but is a product 
of the vinous fermentation." # 

This product, alcohol, is, by the agreement of scientific 
observers, — whether they are teetotalers or otherwise, or 
whatever their theories in regard to what becomes of alcohol 
after it is taken into the system, — a Xarcoiico- Acrid Poison. 
On this subject there are no more competent authorities 
than Orflla, Christisson, Dr. Taylor, Pereira, Professor 
Binz, Dr. Lallemand, Perrin, Dr. TVillard Parker, Dr. 
Richardson, Professor Parks, Professor Duroy, Dumorel, 
Magnus, Dunglison, Dr. Edmunds, Professor Davis, Powell, 
Dermarquay, TVetherbee, Burns, and Dickenson, all of 
whom are agreed as to the character of the poison. 

Distilled Liquors. — Dr. B. TV. Richardson, in summing 
up the results of his researches into the history of Alcohol, 
says that there are these " five points " to be remembered : 

M 1. The fluid containing alcohol that was first known was 
the fermented fluid obtained froni fruits by ferment at ion ; and 
called wine. 

"2. The wine was distilled, and thereby a fine spirit was 
obtained, which was called the spirit of the wine. 

" 3. TVhen the spirit of wine was discovered, it was treated in 
different ways, by which spirits of different tastes, colors, and 
strengths were obtained, and called by different names, such as 
whiskey, brandy, rum and gin. 

* Cited in Text-Book of Temperance, pp. 29, 30, 33. See Dr. 
Hargreaves' " Alcohol, what it Is, and what it Does." 



56 Alcohol in History. 

"4. Sugar and other substances than fruits were made to 
yield spirit by fermentation. 

"5. At last the pure spirit, from -whatever source it was got, 
•was called alcohol." * 

These facts are significant in various ways, but chiefly in 
this : their showing that alcohol is not created in the act of 
distillation, but exists already in the fermented article, be 
it wine, beer, or whatever name may be given it 5 and that 
distillation simply separates the alcohol from the other sub- 
stances with which it is mixed in these fermented bever- 
ages ; and no more alcohol can be obtained by this process 
of distillation than was already in the fermented article be- 
fore the distilling took place. 

The first experiments in distilling wine, are said to have 
been made in the eleventh century of the Christian era, by 
an Arabian chemist, named Albucasis. He called it " The 
spirit of wine," and for a long time its use was confined to 
the laboratory of the chemist, being used to preserve animal 
substances from decay, and to dissolve oils, resins, gums 
and balsams, which water would not change. Subsequently 
it was employed as a medicine ; and afterwards as a beve- 
rage, to be used in health. The names then given it, were 
vinmn aclastum, burnt wine ; spiritiis aniens, strong spirits ; 
as well as spiritiis vini y spirit of wine ; and later aqua vitce, 
water of life. According to Mr. Stanford, designated by 
Dr. Eichardson as u a very learned scholar : n 

u Aqua vitce was used as a drink as early as the year 1260 of 
our present era. The Arabians, he thinks, taught the use of it 
to the Spaniards, and the Spaniards to the monks of Ireland. It 
thus came into use in Ireland, and obtained the Irish name by 
which it is still known in one form, l whiskey.' In the old 
Erse, or Irish tongue, it was called usize-hiatlia, which means 
aqua vitw. In time this term was shortened into usque-baugh, and 
this again was shortened into usige, from which comes the 
word whiskey. Sometimes in Ireland this same strong drink is 
called potheen, or poteen. This word, iwiiin, means a small pot 
or still, the vessel from which the liquor was distilled, and 

* Temperance Lesson Book, p. 65. 



Distilled Liquors. 57 

pooteen was, perhaps, derived from the Latin word potio, a 
drink."* 

The name Alcohol was given to distilled spirit some time 
in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Dr. Richard- 
son finds its mention in a chemical work by Nicholas 
Lemert, published in 1G98. 

u From Lemert's description, it appears that Alcohol was a 
term intended to describe something exceedingly refined or sub- 
tile. He uses the word sometimes as a verb, and explains that 
when any substance is beaten into a very fine powder, so that 
it is impalpable, i. e., when it cannot be felt rough to the touch, it 
is alcoholized. The same word, he adds, is employed to describe 
a very fine, pure spirit, and so the spirit of wine well rectified 
is called the alcohol of wine." 

11 Other scholars have tried to trace out the origin of the word 
itself, and the most accepted explanation on this point is that 
the word is Arabic, A'1-ka-hol, meaning a very fine essence or a 
powder used by the women of the East to tinge their hair and 
the margins of the eyelids. Afterwards, as described by Le- 
mert, it was applied to all refined substances distilled by the 
heat of the fire." f 

Another, and quite different conjecture has been offered 
respecting the etymology of the word as applied to an in- 
toxicant, its present exclusive significance, by the author 
of " Xeuces Philosophies v and quoted by Dr. Lees in his 
u Chemical History of Alcohol.' 7 J 

"It is an Eastern superstition," says Dr. Edward Johnson, the 
author referred to, "to suppose that the earth is infested with 
evil spirits called gouts — and this word is spelt in several dif- 
ferent ways, as gout, ghoul, and gliole. .They were supposed to 
frequent burying grounds, and to prey upon dead bodies. 
They were also supposed to assume different shapes, and some- 
times to enter the body, and to possess it, as it were, with a devil. 
When anything fearful was heard or seen, it was a common ex- 
pression to exclaim, i The ghoiel the glide!' And when tho 

* Ibid, p. 60, which see, for the origin of names of other dis- 
tilled liquors. See also this subject treated in extensOy in Dr. 
Hargreaves' "Alcohol, What it Is and what it Does." 

f Temperance Lesson Book, p. 61. 

J Works, Vol. II. pp. 85, 86. 



58 Alcohol in History. 

Arabian chemists first discovered alcohol, and observed the 
effect (intoxication) which it produced on the first person who 
took it, it seems very natural that they should suppose him to 
be possessed by an evil spirit, and that alcohol was, in fact, 
only one of the forms which the gliole had assumed, in order to 
enter and torture the human body. And, frightened at what 
they beheld, it was very natural that they should exclaim : 
1 al gliole, al gliole ! ' — and it seems very probable that a fluid 
capable of producing such extraordinary effects should continue, 
for some time, to be supposed to be an evil spirit in disguise, as 
it were ; and when this notion was laid aside, the great evil 
which this liquid-devil was observed to work amongst men, 
would still be likely to cause it to retain its name of Al gliole, or 
the evil spirit. Our manner of spelling it is no objection to this 
etymology, for algliole might easily be corrupted into alkohol ; 
thus, algliole, algliol, algoliol, alkohol. In this word, as in almost 
every other, the name defines the nature of the thing." 

Dr. Lees makes note of the singular coincidence of this 
definition with the name suggested to Shakespeare, as he 
observed the effects of drinking in his day : 

" O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be 
known by, let us call thee Devil" 

"When we consider that all intoxication, literally poison- 
ing, — for that is just what the word means, — prior to the 
twelfth century, was produced by alcohol in fermented 
drinks, that this covers all the drunkenness which was 
known in ancient times, including that described and de- 
nounced in the Scriptures, we are better prepared to notice 
the fearful rapidity with which intemperance increased after 
distillation became common 5 and also how it is, since so 
many drink, not because they love the taste of the liquors, 
but because they desire the delirium the narcotic induces, — 
oblivion which is the end and object of drinking, — that it is 
so inevitably sure that the lighter intoxicants will fail to 
satisfy when ardent spirits are within reach. 

The following (determined by Dr. Bence Jones) is the 
percentage of alcohol contained in samples of the liquors 
named, as given by the Alcoholometer : 



Adulterations of Liquors. • 59 

Port Wine. 20 to 23. Rum, 72 to 77. 

Sherry, 15 to 24. Whiskey, 59. 

Madeira, 19. Brandy, 50 to 53. 

Champagne, 14. Genoa, (Gin) 49. 

Burgundy, 10 to 13. Bitter Ale, (new) 6 to 12. 

Rhine Wine, 9 to 13. Porter, 6 to 7. 

Claret, 9 to 11. Stout, 5 to 7. 

Moselle, 8 to 9. Cider, 5 to 7. * 

Adulterations of Liquors. — Poisonous as alcohol is of 
itself, other poisons are often mixed with alcoholic liquors. 
Sometimes the object is to cheapen the beverages, and at 
others to produce a more quickly inebriating drink. The 
practice is an old one : " How can wine prove innoxious/' 
exclaims Pliny, " when it is mixed with so many destructive 
ingredients V * An ordinance of the French Police, bear- 
ing date of 1696, mentions the adulteration of wine with 
litharge (vitrified lead).t Often, say the Committee of 
Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, in their report : 
" These adulterations arise out of the competition among 
rival dealers, and frequently supply the only margin of 
profit by which the trafficker is enabled to keep possession 
of his house as the tenant of some brewer or distiller." 
" Vegetation/' says a competent authority, " has been ex- 
. hausted, and the bowels of the earth ransacked, to supply 
trash for this purpose. So unblushingly are these frauds 
practised, and so boldly are they avowed, that there are 
books published, called '.Publicans' Guides/ and 6 Licensed 
Victuallers' Directors/ in which the most infamous receipts 
imaginable are given to swindle their customers. § " The 
following deceptions/' says Tovey, " are often practised : 
Aroma is added to give the appearance of age to young 
wines. Wine is sweetened with cane sugar, or with other 
fruit than that of the grape. Coloring ingredients are 
added to imitate deeper colored wines. Water is added to 

* Dr. Lees' Text Book of Temperance, pp. 46, 47. 

tHist. Nat. xiv. 20. 

X Henderson's History of Wines, p. 339. 

$ Redding on Ancient and Modern Wines, p. 358. 



60 Alcohol in History. 

strong wine to increase the quantity. Spirit is added to 
weak wine to increase the strength. v * 

Addison said, a long time ago, in the "Tattler," No. 131: 
" There is in the city a certain fraternity of chemical operators, 
who work under ground, in holes, caverns and dark retirements, 
to conceal their mysteries from the eye and observation of man- 
kind. These subterranean philosophers are daily employed in 
the transmutation of liquors, and by the power of magical drugs 
and incantations, raising under the streets of London, the 
choicest products of the hills and valleys of France. They can 
squeeze Bordeaux out of the sloe, and draw Champagne from 
an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable prophecy, — i The ripen- 
ing grape shall hang on every thorn/— seems to have hinted at 
this art, which can turn a plantation of northern hedges into a 
vineyard. These adepts are known among one another by the 
name of wine brewers ; and, I am afraid, do great injury, not 
only to her majesty's customs, but to the bodies of many of her 
good subjects." 

Much later Charles Dickens said, in his " Household Words," 
" Henceforth, let no one boast of his fruity port, of his tawny, 
or of his full-bodied. Those small strong-smelling bottles, on 
the dusty shelves of an analytical chemist's laboratory, will 
rise up in judgment against him; butyric ether, acetic acid, 
and that deadly cognac oil, will stand out against him, ac- 
cusing witnesses of his simplicity and ignorance. Henceforth, 
the mystery of wine-making is at an end ; but wine itself is a 
myth, a shadow, a very Eurydice of life. There is no such 
thing, we verily believe, as honest, grape-juice now remaining — 
nothing but a compound of vile, poisonous drugs, and impurely 
obtained alcohol ; all our beautiful Anacreontics are fables like 
the rest, for wine hath died out from the world, and the labora- 
tory is now the vineyard" 

" A German newspaper," says Samuelson, " recently gave an 
account of a prosecution in Berlin, in which it was stated that 
one large store which had been inspected contained only arti- 
ficial wines, into the manufacture of which the juice of the grape 
had never entered, although the names borne by the labels of 
v the bottles were those of well-known wines." f 

Says a recent number of the Parisian : " The wine crop of 1879 
was about twenty-five million hectolitres, or thirty million hec- 

* Wine and Wine Countries, by Charles Tovey, p. 6. 
t History of Drink, p. 90. 



Adulterations of Liquors. 61 

tolitres "below the average of tlie last ten years. The annual 
consumption in France is forty to forty-five million hectolitres. 
Everybody expected a rise in the price of wine, and some con- 
scientious dealers laid in a stock from abroad. The rise in 
price, however, never came, and the market remained well 
supplied. The reason was that the natural deficit was com- 
pensated for by artifical means. Wine was manufactured out 
of dry grapes. All the raisins to be found in the eastern ports 
were bought up and wine manufacturers sprang up all over the 
country. Around Paris alone there are seven steam power wine 
manufactories. The cost of a cask of raisin wine is about fifty 
francs, and it was sold at one hundred francs, thus giving a 
profit of a hundred per centum. But the competition has now 
become such that the price of raisins has risen from twelve 
francs to seventy-five francs the one hundred kilogrammes. 

"The consequence is that raisins have been abandoned, and 
wine is now manufactured out of glucose, a sugary matter ob- 
tained from the potato, out of the residues of molasses, out of 
rotten apples, dried prunes, dates, figs, and all kinds of refuse 
fruit, and even out of beetroot. These abominable liquids are 
colored artificially, and mixed more or less with Spanish wines 
or white wine. The adulteration and manufacture of wine has 
attained such vast proportions that the principal dealers, who 
had taken measures to supply the market really with harvest 
wine from foreign countries, have taken steps to put a stop to 
the gigantic fraud. The imposture has reached such a pitch 
that not one-third of the wine drunk at Paris is real grape 
wine." 

Dr. Hiram Cox ? a distinguished chemist of Cincinnati, 
was directed by the Legislature of Ohio to analyze and ex- 
amine the liquors in that market. He says : 

"I was appointed to the oince of Chemical Inspector on the 
19th of March, 1855. Since then I have made over six hundred 
inspections of stores, and lots of liquors, of every variety, and 
now positively assert that over ninety per cent, of all that I 
have analyzed were adulterated with the most pernicious and 
poisonous ingredients!" u I called at a grocery store one day 
where liquor was being sold. A couple of Irishmen came in 
while I was there, and called for some whiskey. The first one 
drank, and the moment he drank, the tears flowed freely, while 
he, at the same time, caught his breath like one suffocating or 
strangling. When he could speak, he said to his companion, 
' Och, Michael, by the powers ! but this is warming to the stooin* 



62 Alcohol in History. 

ach, sure V Michael drank, and went through like contortions, 
with the remark, ' Troth, and wouldn't it be foin on a cookl 
frosty morning, Timothy ? ' After they had drank I asked the 
proprietor to pour me out a little in a tumbler. I went to my 
ohiee, got my instruments, and examined it- I found it seven- 
teen per cent, alcoholic spirits, when it should have been 
fifty, and the difference in percentage was ma:Ie ur> by sul- 
plraric acid, red pepper, pellitory, caustic potash, bruerne,andone 
of the salts of mix vomica (strychnine). One pint of such 
liquor (at one time) would kill the strongest man.' 7 * 

" A druggist in Cinchmati^ sent to New York for two> hogs- 
heads of seignette brandy, so as to supply the physicians with 
the very best article for medical purposes. One cask was- dark 
seignette, the other pale seignette. Br. Cox tested them ; pourect 
some into a tumbler ; sunk a polished steel blado into it, and 
let it remain there fifteen minutes.. At the end of that time the 
steel blade had ' turned the brandy black as. ink. The steel 
spatula itself corroded, and when dried left a thick coating of 
rust, which, when wiped off, left a copper coat (on the spatula) 
almost as thick as if it had been plated with copper/ Dr. Cox 
warned the druggist not to sell it, and advised him not to 
for it. The New York man sued the druggist for his, pay. At 
the trial, Dr. Cox analyzed the stuff in the presence of the court 
and jury. In one cask he found ' sulphuric acicL nitric acid,, 
nitric ether, prussic acid, Guiana pepper, and abundance of fu- 
sil oil. He pronounced it base, common whiskey. Not one drop* 
of wine.' In the other cask he found ' the same adulterations 
as the first but in greater abundance, with the addition of cat- 
echu. This is most villanous. 7 The jury decided that the 
liquor was worthless, and the New York man left town without 
his pay." f 

" Dr. Draper, Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College 
of the University of New York, some time since analyzed thirty- 
six samples of brandy, whiskey, etc., mostly taken from the bars 
of first class hotels and restaurants in the city of New York, where 
liquors are retailed at the highest prices, and supx>osed by the 
drinkers to be pure ; and he found only four samples that did not 
contain fusil oil and coloring matter of some sort. In the lower 
and second class bars he found not only fusil oil, but cayenne 
pepper, salt and other substances, These mixtures were sold for 

* Alcohol, its Nature and Effects. By Dr. Charles A. Story, 
pp. 252, 253. 

t Ibid. pp. 377, 378. 



Adulterations of Liquors. 63 

pure full-proof liquors, when the analysis showed but about 
thirty-two per cent, on the average. It should have given fifty 
per cent, of alcohol, or in fact thirty-six per cent, below proof 
of spirits; but the deleterious chemicals with which the liquor 
was adulterated would produce the effects of intoxication, and 
the drinker was deceived ; for instead of solacing himself with 
pure liquor, he was impregnating his system with compound 
poisons. 

" Fusil oil, or amylie alcohol, as it is called in chemistry, is 
one of the products of distillation obtained from all substances 
containing starch — like corn, potatoes, wheat, etc. — and more or 
less is found in all these alcohols, according to the method of dis- 
tillation and rectifying. Dunglison, one the highest authorities, 
says it is an acrid poison and destroys the mucous membrane 
of the stomach. It is nearly worthless by itself, and is pro- 
duced as the last product of distillation, and if mixed with the 
ethylic alcohol, it greatly reduces the cost of liquor. Much 
more water can be put in the liquor where the amylie aleohol 
or fusil oil is allowed to remain in it, and is not removed by the 
process of rectifying. In fact some of the manufacturers of im- 
itation liquors recommend adding it to inferior liquors, ki order 
to ' reduce them ' or ' lengthen them out,' as they term it. But 
it means, to enable them to add more water and still keep up 
the intoxicating quality of their liquor. 

" The immense amount of whiskey made in this country fur- 
nishes the basis for most, if not all,, of the imitation liquors and 
wines, and the presence of so much, f asil oil invariably found in 
them is due, first, to the fact, that the distillers have discovered 
methods by which they can get a much larger quantity of alco- 
hol out of a given quantity of grain than formerly. By adding 
blue vitriol and an extra quantity of yeast to their mash, they 
hasten the process of distillation by inducing a fermentation in 
about twenty-four hours that formerly required seventy-two. 
By thus artificially hastening the distillation, more fusil oil and 
other impurities are mingled with the whiskey, and its danger- 
ous and deleterious qualities are greatly increased. And, further, 
to get the largest amount of alcohol possible out of a given quan- 
tity of grain, they carry the proeess of distillation to the farthest 
possible extent, thus getting into the last portion of the product, 
most, if not all the amylie alcohol or fusil oil. 

" The only way to purify these whiskeys and get rid of 
fusil oil is by rectifying. When this is done, the whiskey is sold 
at various .degree of strength, under the different names of 
French spirits, pure spirits, or Cologne spirits, and these are 
used for making .the ibnitation liquors ; and the reason why so 



64 Alcohol in History. 

much fusil oil is commonly found in the counterfeit brandies, rum 
and wines is, that the whiskey winch is used in making them 
has not been properly rectified, and possibly not rectified at all. 
If a large portion of the fusil oil remains m the whiskey, tho 
stronger it will be for intoxicating purposes, and the manufac- 
turer can increase his profits by putting in more water, and 
mixing in some kind of drug to make it bear a bead ; and the 
drinker, when he feels the intoxicating effects coming on, will 
be satisfied that he has been furnished good, pure, strong liquor, 
when in fact it is many degrees below unadulterated alcoholic 
drinks. 

" Whenever there is a failure of the grape crop in France, there 
is always a large demand for raw whiskey from that market, 
which comes back to us in due time, mixed, and which is sold 
here in the shape of pure French brandies and wines. We also 
import large quantities of cognac oils and liquor essences, flav- 
oring matters and other drugs to be used by American manu- 
facturers of counterfeit liquors. Many of these preparations are 
made in this country, and to add double-refined rascality to 
villany, some of them are adulterated, so that the compounder 
of these mixtures does not know himself exactly what quality 
of devil's broth he is brewing. 

" The amount of adulterated liquors is enormous ; and with a 
few exceptions, the entire liquor traffic of the world is not only a 
fraud, but, (perhaps without all of the dealers being aware of 
the fact) it also amounts to a system of drugging and poisoning. 

" The business of making adulterated liquors has been so sim- 
plified that any novice who knows enough to make a punch or 
a cocktail can learn in a short time how to make any kind of 
liquor that will pass muster with nine-tenths of the drinking 
community. The oils and essences are within the reach of any 
dealer, wholesale or retail, and, with the chemical preparations, 
he can procure the directions for making a large or small quan- 
tity in a short time. 

"Many books have been published in England and this coun- 
try, giving instruction on this subject. The dealers in these 
articles observe secresy and caution. In some of their circulars 
they say to their customers that ( goods ordered to be forwarded 
by express and collected for on delivery, are sent with the 
amount only on the collection bill, giving no indication of the na- 
ture of the articles , and a detailed bill of items sent by mail.' 
They also say, for the purpose of encouraging the compounders 
in this country, that, i The wine growers of Europe make use 
of compound ethers and oils to convert the grain spirit 
into brandy of superior quality, and that the liquors pre- 



Adulterations of Liquors. 65 

pared with their flavors mix with, the foreign in most economi- 
cal proportions.' 

"If the oils, essences, and other .chemical preparations, are 
wanted for converting corn whiskey into any other kind of 
liquor, they can easily be obtained. You can procure brandy 
oil enough to change eight barrels of corn whiskey into eight 
barrels of French brandy for sixteen dollars, and enough chemi- 
cals to convert sixteen barrels into old Holland gin, London 
cordial gin, Old Tom gin, or Schnapps, for twelve dollars ; to 
make old Bourbon, malt, Monongahela, rye or wheat whiskey, 
enough of these chemical compounds can be purchased for eight 
dollars to make four barrels ; and to make four barrels of Irish 
or Scotch whiskey, the chemical materials can be procured for 
ten dollars. Then there is the cost of the coloring matter, and 
what the dealers call " age and body preparation." By using 
these drugs new whiskey is converted into any kind of liquor, 
of any age or color, in a short time. Some of these materials are 
known to be deadly poisons. The more highly the imitation 
liquor can be charged with the cheap poisonous drugs, to supply 
the intoxicating properties of alcohol, the more water can be 
added, thus reducing the cost, and keeping up the intoxicating 
power of the liquor. These preparations can be procured in any 
quantity. A small retailer can purchase a small quantity, suf- 
ficient to convert a gallon or two of whiskey into brandy, gin, 
or rum, as his daily wants may require, but they are generally 
used for larger quantities. 

"In addition to the foregoing there are an immense number 
of receipts for making all kinds of intoxicating liquors. From 
various authentic sources I have procured a large number of 
these, which have been made use of at different times, or are in 
use now. For the benefit of moderate drinkers I will give a few ; 
and as cider is generally considered a very wholesome bever- 
age, they can always procure a sufficient quantity of it, even in 
those years when the apple crop fails. 

"To make sweet apple cider : 

20 pounds of brown sugar, 

1 pound of cider flavor, 
20 gallons of water, 
1 X3int of good brewers' yeast. 

Add to each ten gallons of this mixture one quart of rectified 
spirits. 

" To make Cognac brandy: 

40 gallons of French spirits, 
i pound extract of chicory, 
1 pound of green tea, 
i pound black currant leaves, 
5 



66 Alcohol in History. 

1 quart of burnt sugar or lime water, 
A small quantity of simple syrup, to soften and give it 
age, caramel or burnt sugar to color. 
" Before the war, when real French brandy could be imported 
for $2.50 per gallon, and corn whiskey was cheap, this imitation 
of brandy could be made for less than 37£ cents per gallon. 

"To make French brandy that can be sold for Cognac, Sazarac, 
or MartelPs, by varying the coloring : 
97 gallons pure spirits, 
7 pounds red argolls, 
3 pounds acetic ether, 
3 gallons wine vinegar, 
7 pounds of bruised raisins, 
1 ounce bruised bitter almonds. 
" Distil this mixture, and add oak shavings, catechu and car- 
amel to color, then throw in a few bits of old Russia leather, to 
give the flavor of age. 

"To make an imitation of pure old Monongahela whiskey : 
40 gallons high-proof corn whiskey, 

3 gallons tincture Guinea pepper, 
40 gallons water, 

1 quart tincture pellatory, 

2 ounces acetic ether, 
H gallons strong tea 

" This will produce from the forty gallons of corn whiskey, 
about eighty-four gallons of what will be sold for pure old 
Monongahela. The fusil oil not being rectified out of the 
whiskey, the intoxicating quantity will be superior ; and, aided 
by the tincture of pellatory, disguised with pepper, ether, and 
strong tea, enables the dealer to add largely of water, and also 
to use cheap whiskey. 
" To make Holland gin : 

15 gallons proof spirit, 
1 gallon gin essence, 
1 quart white syrup. 
"Mix thoroughly, and filter if necessary. This is simple, but 
there is no gin m it, so it is a pure fabrication, as almost every 
one of the imitation liquors are. 

"Real imported Holland gin sometimes has sugar of lead 
added to it, to give it a peculiar roughness and flavor, which is 
much esteemed by some gin drinkers. 

"The following is a favorite receipt for making a very high 
flavored Holland gin, which is much admired by some gin drink- 
ers, and it is no wonder so many have Bright's disease of the 
kidneys : 

80 gallons French spirits, 
1 pint oil of turpentine, 



Adulterations of Liquors. 67 

3 ounces oil of juniper, 

1 drachm essential oil of almonds. ( This is almost jprussic 

acid.) 

2 ounces creosote. (This is a deadly poison, for which no 
antidote is known.) 

Simple syrup enough to soften, and give the appearance 
of age. 
u To make a very rich flavored French brandy. 
100 gallons pure spirits, 
2 quarts acetic ether, 
4 ounces cassia buds, 
2 ounces bitter almonds, 
6 ounces orris root, 

1 ounce cloves, 

2 quarts white Trine vinegar, 

1 pound catechu, 

2 gallons Jamaica rum, 

li ounces cayenne pepper, 
1 quart caramel for coloring. 
Let it stand two weeks, occasionally stirring it. 
" To make old London cordial gin of the highest quality : 
"Xinety gallons of gin; oil of almonds one drachm; oils of 
cassia, nutmeg and lemon, of each two drachms ; oils of Juni- 
per, caraway, and coriander seed, of each three drachms ; es- 
sence of orris root, four ounces ; orange flower water, three 
pints ; lump sugar, fifty-six to sixty pounds. The oils and es- 
sences must be dissolved in a quart of spirits of wine, and the 
sugar in three or four gallons of water. The essences must be 
added gradually to the gin, until the requisite flavor is pro- 
duced, when the dissolved sugar must be mixed along with suf- 
ficient quantity of soft water, holding four ounces of alum in 
solution, to make up one hundred gallons. When the whole is 
perfectly mixed, two ounces salts of tartar, dissolved in two or 
three quarts of water, must be added, and the liquor again well 
rummaged or stirred up, after which it must be tightly bunged 
down, and allowed to repose. In a week or ten days it will 
have become brilliant, and ready for sale, or racking off and 
bottling. Many persons use this pretty freely for the benefit, 
as they suppose, of their kidneys ; and such a compound or 
compounds must produce an effect not only on their kidneys, 
but also on every organ of the body. 

" To make brandy which can be sold for pale or dark brandy ; 
40 gallons pure spirits (common proof ,) 
1 drachm Cognac oil, (This is a deadly poison.) 
1 pint spirits of raisins, 
1 pint spirits of prunes, 
1 drachm tannin powder, 
1 ounce acetic ether, 
3 drops oil of neroli, dis solved in 90 per cent, alcohol. 



68 . Alcohol in History. 

" Color to make (Lark or liglit brandy, according to the mar- 
ket you are preparing it for. Fusil oil is found in nearly all the 
imitation brandies, showing that the whiskey used for the basis 
of them has been very imperfectly rectified. 

" When real brandy is first distilled from wine, it is quite col- 
orless, but after being kept some time in oak casks it becomes 
of a pale amber color, the color being derived from the wood. 
Very dark brandies owe their color to caramel, or burnt sugar. 
The characteristic taste of brandy is due to the presence of a 
volatile oil obtained from the skin of the grape. 

"To make old Bourbon whiskey : 

40 gallons pure rectified spirits, 
\ pint of brandy coloring, 
i pint of concentrated essence of Bourbon, 
1 pound age and body preparation. 

" Absinthe is one of the most deadly poisons, nevertheless 
they make a counterfeit absinthe as follows : 

2 ounces of essence of absinthe, 
4 ounces green coloring, 
1 gallon of simple syrup, 
4 gallons of rectified spirits. 

"Here we have about 5 gallons of absinthe cordial, which 
contains 2 ounces of deadly poison, and 2 gallons of pure alco- 
hol. 

i ' To make Santa Cruz rum : 

45 gallons 1ST. E. rum, 
5 gallons Santa Cruz rum, 
4 drachms vanilla essence. 

"To make Jamaica rum : 

60 gallons proof spirit, 
1 pound rum essence. 

" This is simple and easy, but when we think we are drinking 
good old Jamaica rum, we are served with corn whiskey. 

"Wines are as universally and as badly adulterated as the 
distilled liquors. In fact, prepared chemicals can be found in 
the stores of men who deal in these articles to make every kind 
of wine, with directions how to mix them. Whiskey is used as 
the basis for nearly all wines, and upon chemical analysis fupil 
oil is almost always found in counterfeit wines. What was sold 
by one of our respectable Xew York hotels for tine old port wine 
was analyzed, and found to contain 25 j>er cent, of alcohol, some 
fusil oil, extracts of cherry and elderberry, and some kind of 
coloring matter. This is a fine medicine to give sick persons to 
strengthen them. 



Adulterations of Liquors. 69 

" Receipts for making Madeira wine : 
20 pounds of figs, mashed up, 
50 pounds raisins, 

20 ounces linden or tilla flowers, with the leaves on, 
3 drachms of Turkish rhubarb, 
10 grains of cloves, 
3 gallons of sugar syrup. 

"Infuse the above for ten days in 30 gallons of spirits, then 
add 90 gallons of water, and filter, and you have nearly 130 gal- 
lons of what is sold for pure old Madeira wine, without a drop 
of grape juice in it, but, upon analysis, fusil oil will sometimes 
be found. 

" To make sherry wine : 

100 pounds sugar, 200 gallons water, 

40 gallons spirits, 70 gallons sherry wine. 

" Color according to the kind of sherry you wish to imitate. 
Agitate and stir this mixture up for several days, and we have 
230 gallons of what is sold for pure old sherry wine. 

u A portion of the so-called champagne wines consumed in 
this country is composed of the expressed juice of turnips, apples, 
and other vegetables, to which sufficient sugar of lead is added 
to produce the necessary sweetness and astringency. The ter- 
rible headaches and depression of spirits that follow fashionable 
champagne suppers are attributable to the united poisons of 
lead and alcohol. 

" Logwood is the great coloring matter for wines. Black- 
berries, elderberries, and bilberries are also used. Wines are 
adulterated with distilled spirits, lime salts, tannin, alum, lead, 
copper, cider, perry, etc. Port wine, as sold in the market, 
when not entirely counterfeit, is usually a mixture of pure port, 
or Marsala, Bordeaux, and Cape wines with brandy. Inferior 
port is still more highly adulterated with logwood, elderberries, 
catechu, prune juice, sandalwood, and alum. 

"Many people suppose if they go to the Custom-house, and 
buy liquors in bond, under Custom-house lock and key, they 
will get them pure ; but in this they are mistaken, for the liquors 
are as badly drugged in other countries as they are here. Pro- 
fessor Parkes gives an analysis of between forty and fifty of the 
different kinds of wines made in Europe. He says it has been 
stated that the fermentation of the grape, when properly done, 
cannot yield more than 17 per cent, of alcohol, and that any- 
thing beyond this has been added; and that some of the finest 
wines do not yield more than from 6 to 10 per cent. He found, 
upon analyzing the port, sherry, and Madeira wines in London, 
that the port ran from 16} to 23i per cent, alcohol ; the sherry 
from 16 to 25, and the Madeira from 161 per cent, to 22, and 



70 Alcohol in History. 

champagnes from 5h per cent, to 13. The other wines averaged 
from 6| to 19 per cent. Mulder on ' Wine ' (p. 186) quotes 
Guijal to the effect that pure port never contains more than 12| 
per cent., hut Mulder doubts this. Dr. Gorman stated before 
a Parliamentary Committee that pure sherry never contains 
more than 12 per cent, of alcohol, and that from 6 to 8 gallons 
of alcohol is added to every 108 gallons of sherry. Some port 
used m the Queen's establishment contained but 16J per cent., 
the highest was I85; and the sherry only 16, and the clarets 
from 6 j to 7 per cent, of alcohol. These were the purest wines 
to be found in London. Upon comparison we should find that the 
foreign wines in our market would show a much larger per cent., 
and as the corn whiskey they obtain from the United States is 
the cheapest form of alcohol they can procure, it is used for this 
purpose ; and when not perfectly rectified, fusil oil will be found 
in the foreign wines. 

" Thudichum and Dupre (on 'Wine,' p. 682) state that natural 
wine may contain 9, while the maximum limit is 16 per cent, of 
alcohol (of weight in volume.) They also state that a pipe of 
115 gallons of port wine has never less than three gallons of 
brandy added to it, and the rich port wines have from thirteen 
to fifteen gallons added. 

"I have not space to say more of the adulterations of wines 
and ardent spirits, but it is a system of fraud and deception the 
world over. Ales, porter and beers are as badly adulterated in 
this country and England as other liquors are. 

" Professor Gallatin, of the chemical department of the Cooper 
Institute, has analyzed many samples of the best ales from the 
largest breweries in New York and vicinity, and others of the 
best reputation, and found none free from adulteration. He did 
not find as deadly drugs as the English brewers are said to use 
or as the English books recommend, but he found that salt, alum, 
and lime are extensively used. ' The substances added to give 
'head' to beer are alum, salt, and ferrous sulphate.' The effect 
of these adulterations on the consumer is very injurious. The 
cumulative effect of alum is to produce a general derangement 
of the digestive organs, and the diseases which grow out of it. 

"The English works recommend coculus indicus, sweet flag- 
root, grains of paradise, alum, capsicum, absinthe, nutgalls, 
potash, and several other drugs. Dr. Beck, in his work on 
1 Adulterations,' asserts that they use strychine, opium, and 
hyosciamus, all deadly poisons. Keeping new ales until they 
are old is quite expensive, and they are converted into old ales 
cheaply and in a short time by adding oil of vitriol (sulphuric 



Adulterations of Liquors. 71 

acid,) and the new ale acquires alniDst immediately the flavor 
of hard old ale, so much admired by beer drunkards. 

" Coculus indicus is largely imported into England, ostensibly 
for tanners' use, although it is never used by them, but finds its 
way into the brewers' hands, in spite of a severe law against its 
use, aud is used by them to give greater intoxicating effect to their 
beer, and by adding water they reduce its cost and retain the 
intoxicating properties. It is also imported into this country, 
and it is said that it is used by some of the American brewers 
for the same purpose. It is obtained from the seed or fruit of a 
shrub growing in the East Indies, and is imported in various 
sized packages. The trade-mark is 'B. E.,' meaning Black Ex- 
tract. It is an acrid-narcotic poison. Dr. Taylor, one of the 
highest authorities on the subject of poisons, experimented with 
coculus indicus, and killed a rabbit with two drachms in two 
hours ; three drachms killed one in an hour, half an ounce in a 
quarter of a hour, and one ounce killed one in four minutes. It 
is also sometimes called fishberry, as the fishermen use it to cast 
into the water, and all the fish within reach of its influence be- 
come paralyzed, and float on the surface of the water, where 
they can be easily taken. Its poisonous effects more nearly re- 
semble those of alcohol than any other known substance. 

" The excessive use of malt liquors produces softening of the 
brain, and many other diseases. When it is adulterated its ef- 
fects are always injurious, and it is now so generally adulterated 
that the only safety is in letting it alone" * 

Glycerine is now used to a large extent by the brewers, 
both for the purpose of preventing rapid fermentation, re- 
ducing the bitter taste of the u old or poor hops " sometimes 
employed, and making a " sweet, full beer." 

Says an authority on this subject: " Glycerine is present in 
all fermented liquors, which fact was established by Pasteur, in 
1859. An addition, therefore, of glycerine to beer will not be 
necessary, except in especial cases. Pasteur first used glycerine 
for the improvement of wine, in which respect its action was 
found so excellent that the attention of the brewers was called 
to its properties, and its use has since been considered with 
considerable favor by many brewers. * * * * Analyses 
made of various beers of Saxony, Bohemia and Bavaria, showed 
that Erlanger beer contained the largest percentage of glycer- 

* Alcohol : Its Combinations; Adulterations and Physical 
Effects. By Col. J. G. Dudley, pp. 21-38. 



72 Alcohol in History. 

ine. As is well known, glycerine, although it possesses a pure 
sweet taste, is not capable of undergoing fermentation, and by its 
addition to the beer the same acquires a sweet, full taste, and de- 
stroys the bitter taste which the beer acquires if a great amount 
of hops has been used. * * * The amount of glycerine to 
be used varies with the amount of hops which has been used, 
from i to 1 gallon for every 100 gallons of beer. Its careful use 
not only improves its taste but also its keeping qualities. As 
regards the amount of hops used in brewing, it will be observed 
that a certain amount must at least be used in order to insure 
the keeping qualities of the beer. If, however, old or poor hops 
are to be used, the amount must be increased, whereby the bit- 
terness as well as the keeping qualities are correspondingly in- 
creased. In order to neutralize this increased bitterness, an ad- 
dition of glycerine offers the most ready means, and at the same 
tune most beneficial remedy. In regard to expenses, it will be 
observed that by the rational use of glycerine they are not 
materially increased, as the expense of the glycerine may be 
covered by using correspondingly, less malt and hops, without 
detracting from the quality of the article. It may be assumed 
that one pound of glycerine represents within the beer the pro- 
perties of three pounds of malt, and in using glycerine a cor- 
responding reduction in the use of malt may be made. The 
increased expense caused by the use of glycerine may also be 
covered in another way, if the amount of malt is not to be dimin- 
ished. Such beer may be sold at an increased price, as the 
preference which it will find among consumers, who gener- 
ally like a full beer which Is not too bitter, will no doubt sustain 
this course. Glycerine is a colorless, syrupy liquid, of a sweet 
taste, and easily soluble in water. It is prepared from fatty 
substances, which consist of glycerine and fatty acids. It is 
therefore obtained in large quantities, as a by-product in the 
manufacture of soaps and candles, and has for many years been 
allowed to go to waste, but of late has been utilized for a great 
many purposes." * Delicious soap-grease ! 

* "The Western Brewer," for Sept, 15, 1880, pp. 934-5. 



CHAPTEE II. 

History of Intemperance, and its Political, Moral and Religions 
Effects, in China, India, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome ; with 
the Jews and Contemporary Nations mentioned in the Old 
Testament, in Germany, Great Britain, and the United 
States. 

INTEMPEKANCE has been declared by an American 
Statesman to be " The gigantic crime of the age, and 
the great source of danger to our republic/' * Unfortu- 
nately it is no recent evil, nor are its dangers less imminent 
in any country, f Yet it is impossible to give a full account 
of its extent, or to trace its origin in every instance of its 
existence in various ages and climes, since in some locali- 
ties it was no doubt practised at a period prior to the begin- 
ing of authentic history ; in others the inferences with regard 
to its use are far fetched and inconclusive ; and in still 
others the traditions are mere surmises, or unwarranted dec- 
larations, too recent in their origin to be of any value as in- 
timations of what was done in the distant past. 

(A). The statement in Genesis ix. 20, 21, "And Noah 
began to be an husbandman, and planted a vineyard, and 
drank of the wine, and was drunken," etc., is regarded by 
able critics, as referring, not to some new thing in the way 

* U. S. Senator Morrill. 

t "Drunkenness," says the Westminster Review, "is the curse 
of England — a curse so great that it far eclipses every other 
calamity under which we suffer. It is impossible to exaggerate 
the evils of drunkenness." 

(73) 



74 Alcohol in History. 

of the culture of the vino, but to the revival of general 
husbandry, the vine having been cultivated before the flood. 
The criticism is both reasonable and just, and granting its 
correctness, the first mention of wine in the Bible does not 
pretend to take us back to its origin. As we shall conclu- 
sively see, still further on, its first mention among other 
people is traditional, long before it appears in authentic 
history. 

(B). Somewhere from three thousand to seven thousand 
years ago — a conveniently wide margin of difference — there 
existed, according to modern authority,'* a race of partially 
civilized men, who built their dwellings on piles driven into 
the beds of lakes in Switzerland. They practised agricul- 
ture, and were familiar with, if they did not cultivate, 
grapes, apples, pears, plums, cherries and barley, as charred 
and dried apples, and pears, stones of grapes and the other 
fruits, and whole ears of barley have been discovered among 
the traces and remains of their dwellings. It has been sur- 
mised by some that because fermented drinks can be made 
from these products of the soil, therefore the Lake Dwellers 
manufactured and used intoxicants. The inference is worth- 
less. 

(C), An ignorant confounding of the Indians of North 
America with the native wild men of the southern part of 
the continent — families wholly different and distinct — and 
attributing to the former customs which it is by no means 
certain that the latter ever established, has led to the un- 
warranted charge that our Aborigines were addicted to in- 
temperance before their intercourse with the whites. The 
assertion is contradicted by all authentic history, and by 
every reliable tradition in regard to their primitive habits. 
There is no proof whatever, that they knew anything of any 
kind of intoxicants before the arrival of Europeans. There 
is no better authority on this subject than Rev. John 

* Keller's Lake Dwellings, p. 344. 



Intemperance in China, 75 

Heckewelder, Moravian Missionary to the Indians. He 

says : 

" Of the manner in which they have acquired tlie vice of In- 
temperance, I presmne there can "be no doubt. They charge us 
in the most positive manner with being the first who made them 
acquainted with ardent spirits, and what is worse, with having 
exerted all the means in our power to induce them to drink to 
excess. It is very certain that the processes of distillation and 
fermentation are entirely unknown to the Indians, and that 
they have among them no intoxicating liquors but such as they 
receive from us. The Mexicans have their Pulque, and other 
indigenous beverages of an inebriating nature, but the North 
American Indians, before their intercourse with ns commenced, 
had absolutely nothing of the kind."* 

History is sufficiently full, however, of positive evidence 
of the existence of the vice of Intemperance at very early 
periods in human experience, and of its extent over vast 
portions of time and space, to furnish ns with abundant data 
for the purposes of this chapter: a view of intemperance 
among nations before and after the birth of Christ, and its 
effects on religious and social life and on the State. Our 
real difficulty in this work will be to condense the great 
amount of historic material in hand, into the space in which 
it must be limited here, and still give a just view of the 
subject. 

I. Chixa. — We begin with the people w r ho claim to be 
the most ancient nation on the earth, the Chinese. It is im- 
possible to deny their claim, and there is much to show their 
great age and their early civilization. Their great philos- 
opher, Confucius, and his eminent disciple Mencius, the for- 
mer flourishing in the fifth century before Christ, and the 
latter two centuries later, were not only eminent as teachers 
of their nation, for which they are greatly reverenced, but 

* History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations, etc. 
By Rev. John Heckewelder, chap, xxxvi. See also numerous 
authorities cited in Halkett's Historical Notes, respecting the 
Indians of North America, chap. viii. n 



76 Alcohol in History. 

also rendered most signal service by editing and perfecting 
two great works of historic value : " The Shoo-King, or 
History/ 7 and " The She-King, or book of ancient Poetry," 
a series of writings handed down through many generations, 
together with the commentaries written thereon by the an- 
cient wise men. From these books we learn that intemper- 
ance was frequently putting the Empire in. danger, and thai 
stringent measures for its suppression were often employed. 
The earliest account in the " Shoo-King," is the following, 
in the year 2187 B. 0. 

" "Fae-k'ang occupied the throne like a personator of the dead. 
By idleness and dissipation he extinguished his virtue, till the 
black-haired people all began to waver in their allegiance." 

His five brothers visit him to endeavor to bring him back 
to virtue. They call to his mind the counsels of the an- 
cients. " The second said : 

1 It is in the lessons : — 
When the palace is a wild of lust, 
And the country a wild for hunting: 
When wine is sweet, and music the delight, 
When there are lofty roofs and carved walls, — 
The existence of any one of these things, 
Has never been but the prelude to ruin. 7 " * 

Another account elates 2154 or 2127, B. C, in the reign 
of Chung-k'ang : 

"He and Ho had neglected the duties of their office, and were 
sunk in wine in their private cities, and the prince of Yin re- 
ceived the imperial charge to go and punish them." He and 
Ho were Ministers of the Board of Astronomy, but through their 
licentious indulgences unfitted themselves for their duties, and 
in consequence, the people, dependent on them for knowledge 
of the times and seasons, received no light and guidance. xVn • 
eclipse comes on them unawares, and the Astronomers are too 
much intoxicated to notice it. The prince of Yin assembles his 
troorjs, and thus addresses them: "Ah! ye, all my troops, 
these arc the well-counselled instructions of the sage founder of 
our dynasty, clearly verified in their power to give security 



* Shoo-King, Bk. iii. ch. i. 6. 



Intemperance in China. 77 

stability to tlio State : l The former kings were careful] 
:ve to the warnings of Heaven, and their ministers observed 
the regular laws of their offices. All the officers, moreover, 
watchfully did their duty to assist the government, and the 
sovereign became entirely intelligent.' Every year in the 
month of spring, the herald, with his wooden-tongued bell goes 
along the roads, proclaiming, ' Ye officers able to direct, be pre- 
pared with your admonitions. Ye workmen engaged in mechan- 
ical affairs, remonstrate on the subject of your business ! If auy 
of you disrespectfully neglect this requirement, the country has 
regular punishments for you.' Now here are He and Ho. They 
have entirely subverted their virtue, and are sunk and lost m 
wine. They have violated the duties of their office, and left 
their posts. They have been the first to allow the regulations 
of Heaven to get into disorder, putting far from them their pro- 
per business. On the first day of the last month of autumn, the 
sun and moon did not meet harmoniously in Fang. The blind 
musicians beat their drums ; the inferior officers and common 
people bustled and ran about. He and Ho, however, as if they 
were mere personators of the dead in their offices, heard nothing 
and knew nothing;— so stupidly went they astray from their 
duty in the matter of the heavenly appearances, and rendering 
themselves liable to the death appointed by the former kings. 
The statutes of government say, when they anticipate the time, 
let them be put to death without mercy ; when they are behind 
the time, let them be put to death without mercy." * 

Again, 1122 B. 0. The Emperor Chow becomes disso- 
lute, " being lost and maddened witb wine." His pernicious 
example is so generally followed that the Viscount of Wei 
finds it impossible to rule in bis Principality. He therefore 
seeks the Grand and Junior Tutors and inquires what can 
be done. They give "him no help. The dynasty is too 
corrupt to be changed, and nothing but its overthrow can 
be looked for. The Viscount is advised to flee and save 
his life, while the Grand Tutor resolves to stay and share 
in the death which may come to all who are in the govern- 
ment : 

ling's son, Heaven in anger i3 sending down calamities, 
and wasting the country of Yin. Thence has come about that 



*Slioo-Kin£ 131:. iv. ch. ii. 1 



78 Alcohol in History. 

lost and maddened condition through wine. He has no reve- 
rence for things which he ought to reverence, but does despite 
to the aged elders, the old official fathers. Now the people of 
Yin will even steal away the pure and perfect victims devoted 
to the spirits of heaven and earth ; and their conduct is con- 
nived at ; and though they proceed to eat the victims they suf- 
fer no punishment. On the other hand, when I look down and 
survey the j)eople of Yin, the methods of government to them are 
hateful exactions, which call forth outrages and hatred, and 
this without ceasing. Such crime equally belongs to all in 
authority, and multitudes are starving with none to whom to 
appeal. Now is the time of Shang's calamity ; I will arise and 
share in its ruin. When ruin overtakes Shang, I will not be 
the servant of another dynasty. But I tell you, O King's son, 
to go away, as being the course for you Formerly I injured 
you by what I said, but if you do not go forth now, our sacrifi- 
ces will entirely perish. Let us rest quietly in our several parts 
and present ourselves to the former kings. I do not think of 
making my escape.* 

In " the She-King/' are many allusions to the habits of 
the people. The following are descriptions of the ways of 
the settlers in Pin, under King-leuz, B. C. 1496-1325 : 

•' ' In the tenth [month] they reap the rice, 
And make the spirits for the spring, 
For the benefit of the bushy eyebrows." 

This is interpreted to mean that the spirits distilled from 
rice cut down in the tenth month, would be ready for use in 
the spring ; and that the use of spirits was restricted to the 
aged. In another poem, however, allusion is made to the 
custom of drinking healths : 

" In the tenth month they sweep their stack-sites, 
The two bottles of wine are enjoyed, 
And they say, ' Let us kill our lambs and sheep, 
And go to the wall of our prince, 
There raise the cup of rhinoceros horn, 
And wish him long life, that he may live forever." f 

Mencius says (about 300 B. C): " There are five things which 
are said in the common practice of the age to be uniilial. * * * 

* Shoo-King, Bk. xi. 1 9. 

t She-King, Part I., Bk. xv., Ode I. 



Intemperance in India. 79 

The second is gambling and chess-playing and being fond of 
wine, without attending to the nourishment of his parents." * 

Of the extent of drinking in modem China it is impossi- 
ble to speak with accuracy. The art of distillation was 
known and practised there somewhere between the tenth 
and sixteenth centuries, and both fermented and spirituous 
liquors are imported into the country. But travellers do 
not agree in then statements and opinions as to the extent 
of intoxication among the people ,• some insisting that in- 
stances of it are very rare, and others declaring that it is 
scarcely less prevalent than among Europeans, although 
those who imbibe are cautious how they exhibit them- 
selves to the public while under the influence of liquor. 
Of the influences which have produced this changed con- 
dition, we shall speak elsewhere. 

II. Ixdia. — For our knowledge of the drinking customs 
of ancient India, we are indebted to the writings of the 
Brahmans, called the Rig- Veda, or Sacred Books, which 
were brought together about 400 years B. C, but are sup- 
posed to have been composed in a remote antiquity, the 
nearest date of which to our own time, is 1200 B. C.f 
These books contain the Ancient Hymns, as recited or 
sung by the priests when engaged in their official duties. 
Then religious ceremonies were chiefly sacrificial, and the 
principal sacrifice was called " Soma," after an intoxicating 
drink made from the juice of the creeping plant Ascfapias 
acicla. This plant, after being cleaned and macerated in 
water, was pressed between stones, and the juice, strained 
through ram's wool, was mixed with malt and clarified but- 
ter, and then fermented. The sacrifice was made by pour- 
ing the fermented liquid on the sacred fire, where it was 
supposed to be drank by the gods. Sometimes it was be- 

*Bk. iv., Pt. EL, Ch. xxx. 

t According to Dr. Hang, Superintendent of Sanskrit Studies 
in the Poona College, Bombay, the oldest hymn in the Eig-Veda 
is to he placed between 2000 and 2400 B. C. 



80 Alcohol in History. 

licved to be miraculously transformed into the god himself, 
and so is occasionally addressed as a person. Indra was 
the god to whom the Soma was most frequently offered, and 
unless he was intoxicated with it nothing was expected from 
him, while all his great exploits were said to be due to his 
" exhilaration with Soma." " Indra delights in it from his 
birth : lord of bay horses, we wake thee up with sacrifices : 
acknowledge our praises in the exhilaration of the Soma 
beverage." " Be exhilarated by the Soma. The Soma is 
effused, the sweet juices are poured into the vessels ; this 
propitiates Indra." " Indra comes daily seeking for the 
offerer of the libation. The pleasant beverage that thou, 
Indra, hast quaffed in former days thou still desirest to 
drink of daily : gratified in heart and mind, and wishing our 
good, drink, Indra, the Soma that is placed before thee. 
As soon as born, Indra, thou hast drunk the Soma for thine 
invigoration. I proclaim the ancient exploits of Indra, 
the recent deeds that Maghavan has achieved : when indeed 
he had overcome the divine illusion, thenceforth the Soma 
became his exclusive beverage." u Indra verily is the 
chief drinker of the Soma among gods and men, the drinker 
of the effused libation, the acceptor of all kinds of offerings j 
whom others pursue with offerings of milk and cords as 
hunters chase a deer with nets and snares, and harass with 
inappropriate praises." " When thou hast expelled the 
mighty Ahi from the firmament, then the fires blazed, the 
sun shone forth, the ambrosial Soma destined for Indra 
flowed out, and thou, Indra, didst manifest thy manhood." * 
James Samuelson, in his " History of Drink," p. 38, refers 
to Langlois 7 translation of the Big- Veda as authority for as- 
serting that, " Just as in one of the Hebrew Psalms every 
verse ends with the words, ' For his mercy endureth for- 
ever/ so in one hymn to Indra, each verse concludes as 
follows : i In the intoxication which Soma has caused him, 
see what Indra has accomplished. 7 " 

* Rig-Veda Sanhita, translated by H. H. Wilson, M. A., etc. 
Edited by E. B. Cowell, M. A., pp. 67, 72, 195, 219, 22?. 



Intemperance in India. 81 

Sometimes another god is associated with Indra in the 
Soma sacrifice : " May the prayers that are repeated to you, 
reach you, Indra and Vishnu j may the praises that are 
chaunted reach you ; you are the generators of all praises, 
pitchers recipient of the Soma libation." "Indra and 
Vishnu, agreeable of aspect, drink of this sweet Soma, fill 
with it your bellies ; may the inebriating beverage reach 
you : hear my prayers, my invocation." " Indra and Varuna, 
observant of holy duties, drinkers of the Soma juice, drink 
this exhilarating effused libation; sitting on the sacred grass, 
be exhilarated by the draught." u The prompt efruser of the 
libation offers the Soma to Indra and to Vayu to drink at 
the sacrifices, at which devout priests, according to their 
functions, bring to you two the first portion of the Soma." 
u Come with gracious minds, Indra and Agni, to this our 
Soma libation : Ye are never regardless of us, therefore 
I propitiate you with constant sacrificial viands. Utter 
destroyers of Yritra, exhilarated by the Soma, you who are 
worshipped with hymns and prayers and songs, come hither, 
destroy with your fatal weapons the mortal who is malig- 
nant, ignorant, strong, rapacious, destroy him like a water 
jar, with your weapons." * 

Other gods, as Mitra, the Marats, Aryaman, the Aswins, 
and Sakra, are called upon in the Soma festivity, and all 
are said to be endowed with wonderful capacity for con- 
taining and enjoying the beverage, to owe their power to it, 
and to be expected to grant favors to mortals only as they 
are well supplied with Soma. 

^That you may drink the sacrificial beverage, you come 
promptly upon this my invitation." "When the stone, seeking 
to propitiate you two divinities, is raised aloft, and loudly 
sounds, expressing for you the Soma juice, then the pious wor- 
shipper brings you bach, beautiful divinities, by his oblation." 
" The divine Soma juices, flowing like water, self-renowned at 
religious assemblies, support Indra and Varuna." "Praise to- 
gether Indra, the showerer of benefits when Soma is effused.' 7 

* Ibid, pp. 16, 17, 95, 140, 185, 187, 189. 
6 



82 Alcohol in History. 

" Come hither, Indra, be exhilarated by the wonderful liba- 
tory affluence, and with thy fellow-topers, the Maruts, fill with 
the Soma juices thy vast belly, capacious as a lake." "Indra, 
drink this effused libation till thy belly is full." " The pota- 
tions of Soma contend in thy interior for thine exhilaration like 
the ebriety caused by wine : thy worshippers praise tliee, rilled 
full of Soma like the udder of a cow with milk." " Quickly, 
priest, pour forth the Soma, for Indra is thirsty ; verily he has 
harnessed his vigorous steeds, the slayer of Vritra has arrived. 
Pour out, priests, the Soma libations to Indra, in his chariot : 
the stones, placed upon their bases, are beheld effusing the 
Soma for the sacrifice of the offerer." " Indra, when the Soma 
juices are effused, sanctifies the offerer and the praiser." 
"Thou, Indra, the most excellent drinker of the Soma [or it 
may mean, says Cowell, " thou who on drinking the Soma 
becomest preeminent/ 7 ] destroyest the adverse assembly that 
offers no libations." * 

That the people, as well as the gods, were partakers of 
the Soma, is evident from their so definite descriptions of its 
effects ; their desire that the gods may not simply partake 
of it as offered by them, but may sit down on the grass and 
participate with the offerers in their libations ; from their 
declaration that Indra is the chief drinker among gods and 
men ; and also from one of their prayers to Soma personi- 
fied : 

" Where wishes and desires are, where the bowl of the bright 
Soma is, where there is food and rejoicing, there make me im- 
mortal." f "When the meal was prepared, they strewed the 
eating place with sacred grass, and invited the gods to take 
their seats and drink their fill. They then poured a portion of 
their food on the sacred fire, which was personified as a divine 
messenger who carried the sacrifice to the several deities ; 
and when this was done the family apparently sat down and 
feasted on the remainder." { 

The Soma sacrifices are now very rarely offered in any 
part of India. Their disuse will be accounted for in our 

* Ibid. pp. 4, 148, 173, 211, 216, 218, 220, 232, 271, 279. 
t Max Miiller's Chips from a German Workshop, I., p. 46. 
t History of Indra from the earliest ages, by J. Talboys 
Wheeler, Vol. HI. p. 17. 



Intemperance in India. 83 

sketch of the History of Efforts to suppress Intemperance. 
'Dr. Haug, desiring to avail himself of all possible aids to 
the correct understanding of the Vedas, says : 

" Seeing tlie great difficulties, nay, impossibility of attaining 
to anything like a real understanding of the sacrificial art from 
all the numerous hooks I had collected, I made the greatest 
efforts to ohtain oral information from some of those few 
Brahmans who are known hy the name of 'Srotriyas' or 
1 Srautes/ and who alone are the possessors of the sacrificial 
mysteries as they descended from the remotest times. The task 
was no easy one, and no European scholar in this country he- 
fore me ever succeeded in it. This is not to be wondered at; 
for the proper knowledge of the ritual is everywhere in India 
now rapidly dying out, and in many parts, chiefly in those un- 
der British rule, it has already died out." 

Muller continues: " Dr. Hang succeeded, however, at last, 
in procuring the assistance of a real Doctor of Divinity, who had 
not only performed the minor Yedic sacrifices, such as the full 
and new moon offerings, but had officiated at some of the great 
Soma sacrifices, now very rarely to be seen in any part of India. 
He was induced, we are sorry to say, by very mercenary consid- 
erations, to perform the principal ceremonies in a secluded part 
of Dr. Haug's premises. This lasted five days, and the same 
assistance was afterwards rendered by the same worthy and 
some of his brethren whenever Dr. Haug was in any doubt as to 
the proper meaning of the ceremonial treatises which give the 
outlines of the Yedic sacrifices. Dr. Haug was actually al- 
lowed to taste that sacred beverage, the Soma, which gives 
health, wisdom, inspiration, nay immortality, to those who 
receive it from the hands of a twice-born priest. Yet, after de- 
scribing its preparation, all that Dr. Haug has to say of it is 
this : " The sap of the plant now used at Poona appears whitish, 
has a very stringent taste, is bitter, but not sour ; it is a very 
nasty drink, and has some intoxicating effect. I tasted it sev- 
eral times, but it was impossible for me to drink more than 
some tea-spoonsful." * 

The drink of the common people of ancient India is also 
mentioned in the Yedas. It is called Sura, and in the ear- 
liest ages it was made from a tall native grass, curds, honey, 
melted butter, barley, and water j later, rice, black pepper, 

* Chips from a German Workshop, Yol. I., pp. 103, 104. 



84 Alcohol in History. 

barley, lemon juice, ginger and hot water, entered into its 
composition. It was in very general use, was much more 
intoxicating than Soma, and in one of the hymns is con- 
fessed to be the cause of sinful debasement : " It is our 
condition that is the cause of our sinning ; it is intoxica- 
tion." " Sura, literally wine," acids Mr. CowelL* Even 
after severe penalties were attached to intemperance, and 
all use of the bowl was denounced by the Laws of Manu, 
the vice prevailed to such an extent that — 

" Palastya, an ancient sage, enumerates no less than twelve 
different kinds of liquor besides Soma ; and the preparation of 
those drinks from the grape, from lioney, sugar, dates, the palm, 
pepper, rice, cocoa-nut, etc., has been described with consider- 
able minuteness. Besides these home-made drinks, large quan- 
tities of foreign wines were imported into India two thousand 
years ago, and met with a ready sale throughout the country." t 

Morewood states that when, in 640, A. D., the trade of 
India was transferred from the Egyptians to the Saracens, 
and the Mussulmans would carry on no commerce in wine, 
the Indians manufactured their intoxicants from various 
substances, the chief of them being the fermented juice of 
the palinin tree, and called Tari. J 

Modern travellers tell us that intoxication in India to-day, 
is chiefly among the lowest castes and the half-castes, the 
higher orders very generally abstaining from all inebriating 
drinks. The common arrack, distilled from rice, is used 
most ; although the very lowest and besotted drink a fiery 
compound called Pariah arrack, the distilled juice of the 
palm and the thorn apple, a powerful narcotic. Rousselet 
describes an annual debauchery in the Spring season, when 
under the guise of religion, all classes in India give them- 
selves up to beastly drunkenness. 

"The carnival," he says, " lasts several days, during which 
the most licentious debauchery and disorder reign throughout 

* ATilsou's Rig- Veda, p. 175. 

t The History of Driuk, by James Samuelson, p. 42. 

X Morewood on Inebriating Liquors, p. 71. 



Intemperance in Persia. 85 

every class of society. It is the regular saturnalia of India. 
Persons of the greatest respectability, without regard to rank or 
age. are not ashamed to take part in the orgies which mark this 
season of the year." " Troops of men and women, wreathed with 
flowers, and drunk with bang, crowd the streets, carrying sacks 
full of a brigbt red vegetable powder. With this they assail 
the passers-by, covering them with clouds of dust, which soon 
dye their clothes a startling color." "Never have I seen so 
revolting a spectacle. Groups of native wretches dead drunk 
were wallowing in the gutters, and at every step the most dis- 
gusting debauchery was exhibited with unblushing effron- 
tery." * 

III. Pebsia. — The beginnings of the history of the peo- 
ple who established the Persian Empire are involved in no 
little obscurity, and much that is accepted as true in regard 
to the place from which the settlers came, as also the causes 
of their emigration, is conjectural. But it seems well 
proven that they brought a religion with them having in 
form many features in common with the religion of India, 
though in spirit containing much and aiming at much in wade 
contrast with the Brahminical writings. Their leader and 
most renowned man was, he claimed, and they believed, 
favored with a revelation from the Supreme God, Ormazd ? 
who directed that they should call themselves the Mazday- 
asnas, the people of Ormazd. The book containing the 
revelation, the Zend-Avesta, which means Zend-transla- 
tion, sometimes commentary, A vesta- — sacred t writings is 
made up of the Sacred Law, Invocations and Hymns ; 
the former, being much the larger portion, is put into the 
form of a conversation between Zarathustra, whom the 
modern Persians call Zerdusht, and whom we know by the 
Greek translation, as Zoroaster, and Ormazd, the former 
asking and the latter answering questions. 

When Zoroaster flourished, is unknown, ^ Eudoxus de- 
clares," says Pliny, u that this Zoroaster lived six thousand 



* Quoted in Samuelson's History of Drink, p. 5, 
t Essays on the Sacred Language^ etc., of the Parsis, By Mar- 
tin Haug, Ph. D,, p. 120. 



7 



86 Alcohol in History. 

years before the death of Plato. So also, Aristotle. Her- 
minpus, wno wrote with the utmost care on the whole art, 
and commented on two million verses composed by Zoro- 
aster, and prepared indexes of his works, reports that 
Azonaces was the teacher by whom he was instructed, and 
that he lived 5000 years before the Trojan war." * 

Bunsen suggests " that the date of Zoroaster fixed by Aris- 
totle, cannot be said to be so very irrational ; but he adds : 
" At the present stage of the inquiry, the question whether 
this date is set too high cannot be answered either In the 
negative or affirmative." t 

Spiegel,, one of the translators of the Zend-Avesta, con- 
siders Zoroaster as a neighbor and cotemporary of Abraham ; 
Rapp, in his Religion of the Persians, concludes, after a 
thorough comparison of ancient writers, that Zoroaster lived 
B. C. 1200 or 1300; while Prof. Whitney, of Now Haven 
places him at least B. 0. 1000. The range is therefore a, 
wide one, from 1000 to 6350 B, O. 

Like the Brahmins, the Mazdayasnas offered sacrifices of 
an intoxicating beverage to their gods. This drink the V 
called Haoma, or Homa, and sometimes Parahoma, and as 
was also the case with the Brahmins, the name was given to 
the tree or plant, and to the god,, as well as to the beverage 
itself. It is supposed, and not without good reason, that 
Soma and Homa are identical, as the initial S of Sanscrit 
is always represented by H in Zend, an indication that in 
remote antiquity the ancestors of the two people were one 
family. The Horn or Homa tree is said " to grow on the 
tops of mountains in Gilan, Shir van, Mazenderan, and ac- 
cording to Antequil, the Parsees of India still send from 
time to time one of their priests to Kirman for cuttings." J 
It is often praised in the Avesta for the golden color of the 
liquid. A White Homa, a mystical plant, sometimes called 

•Nat. Hist., Bk. xxx. eh. 1. 

t Egypt's Place in Universal History, Vol, iii. p. 471. 

X Spiegel's Arvesta, ii. lxxii. 



Intemperance in Persia. 87 

Gaokerena, possessing even greater virtues than the real one, 
inasmuch as whoever tastes of it becomes immortal, is also 
mentioned.' 7 * 

In the ninth Yasna, SpiegePs translation, the god Haoma 
appears to Zarathustra, " At the time of the morning 
dawn, as he was purifying the fire and reciting the Gathas, 77 
and calls upon him : " Praise me with songs of praise. 77 
Zarathustra having complied, enters into conversation with 
the god, asking, " Who first, Haoma, prepared thee in 
the corporeal world ? What holiness thereby became his 
share ? What wish was bestowed on him ? 77 An answer 
being given, as also to the inquiry who the second and the 
third were that had prepared him in the corporeal world, he 
questions in the same form in regard to the fourth man, and 
is answered : 

" Pourushaspa has prepared me as the fourth man in the cor- 
poreal world ; this holiness became thereby his portion, this wish 
was fulfilled to him : 

"'That thou wert born to him, thou pure Zarathustra, in the 
dwelling of Pourushaspa, created against the Daevas, devoted 
to the belief in Ahura. 

"The renowned in Airyana-vairya, which spreads itself 
abroad four-fold. 

"Afterwards the other prayer with mighty voice, 

" Thou madest that all the Daevas hid themselves in the earth, 
O Zarathustra, which before were going about on the earth in 
the shape of men. 

" Thou, the mightiest, strongest, most active, swiftest, the 
most victorious among the heavenly beings. 

"When answered Zarathustra: Adoration to the Haoma! 

"Good is Haoma, well-created is Haoma, rightly created is 
Haoma. 

"Well-created and health-bringing. 

" Gifted with good body, rightly acting. 

" Victorious, golden, with moist stalks. 

"He is very good when one eats him, and the surest for the 
soul. 

" Thy wisdom, O Golden, praise I ; 

"Thy powers, thy victory, 



*Vendidad, xx. 17. 



88 Alcohol in History. 

" Thy healthfullness, thy healing rjower, 

"Thy furtherance, thy increase. 

" Thy powers in the whole body, thy greatness in the whole 
form. 

''Praise that I may go ahont the world as Ruler, paining the 
tormenters, smiting the Drajas; 

"That I may torment all the torments, the tormenting Daevas 
and men." 

The fourteenth Vispered is a prayer or ascription to be 
recited by the priests while preparing the Homaj and 
among the necessary utensils of the priest, "the cup for 
the Homa " is mentioned.* It is offered up " for satisfac- 
tion to the good waters created by Mazda ; " " for satisfac- 
tion to the Fravashi (the soul) of the holy Zarathustra," and 
for "all departed souls 5 " "for praise to Ahura-Mazda 77 
(Ormazd) ; " in prayer for strength to those who fight the 
demons ; 77 in propitiation of all the gods ; t at the sacrifice 
for the purification of the land, of the killer of a dog, and 
of the licentious. J It is the only thing incapable of defile- 
ment by being brought in contact with the unclean : " The 
prepared Haoma has neither dissolution nor death ; not 
even when it is brought to a dead body." And it is one 
of the mightiest weapons with which to fight the demons. § 
The laity are to offer it to all the genii of the waters, the 
stars, and the cattle, and are to praise it continually. || Homa 
curses the person, the dwelling and the posterity of those 
who do not prepare it, or who hinder others in their pre- 
paration of it.^f 

From the foregoing quotations, and they are fair speci- 
mens of what is said of Homa in the Zend-Avesta, it ap- 
pears that the offerings as w r ell as the praises of the beve- 
rage, were made to the good god and his assistants ; but 
Plutarch conveys the idea that the offerings were made to 
the evil god and the demons, for the purpose of averting 

* Vendidad, xiv. 31. f Yasna, vii. x. xii. xxiii. xxiv. lxvii. 

t Vendidad, ix. xiii. xviii. § Vendidad, vi. xix. ; Yasna, x. 

|| Kordash-Avesta, xxi.-xxvi. xl. fl Yasna, xi. 



Intemperance in Persia. 89 

their wrath : " They beat a certain plant called Homomi, 
in a mortar, and call np Pinto and the dark ; and then 
mix it with the blood of a sacrificed wolf, and convey it to 
a certain place where the sun never shines, and there cast 
it away." * Bat whatever the intent with which the Homa 
was sacrificially used, it is evident that, unlike the use of 
the Soma, it was not to be employed either by priests or by 
laity for the purpose of producing their intoxication ; it was 
wholly for the gods. Drunkenness was supposed to be the 
work of Ahriman, the god of darkness and evil, and there- 
fore was forbidden by Ormazd. 

Two other intoxicants were known to the people, and in 
spite of injunctions to the contrary, were employed in pro- 
ducing drunkenness. The one, Hura, identical probably 
in quality as in name with the Brahmin Sura, and the other, 
Banga, sometimes denounced in the Vendidad as producing 
abortions, and sometimes represented as one of the three 
demons who are ever hostile to man.f 

Later in the history of Persia, the vine seems to have 
been cultivated, intoxicants became more common, and in- 
temperance increased. Sir James Malcom, in his History 
of Persia, quotes from the MSS. of Moullah Ackber, to the 
effect that Jem Sheed, the founder of Persepolis, was pas- 
sionately fond of grapes, and desiring to have some always 
easy of access, concealed a large quantity in a vault. Great 
was his surprise on visiting his treasure to find that much 
of the mass had been crushed, and that the escaped juice 
was so acid that he believed it to be poisonous. !Not know- 
ing what might yet come of it, he filled some vessels with 
the liquid and stored them in his own apartment, labelling 
them " Poison." A favorite concubine suffering from 
nervous debility, meditated suicide as the only relief from 
her malady, and seeing the vessels of poison, opened one and 
swallowed its contents. Stupefied by the draught, she fell 

* Plutarch's Morals, Vol. iv. Art. Isis and Osiris, 
f Vendidad, xv. xix. 



90 Alcohol in History. 

into a sleep, and on waking was delighted to find herself 
free from pain. Charmed with the sensations experienced, 

she continued her experiments till she had drunk up all the 
monarch's poison. Confessing the theft, and describing 
the delightful effects which it produced, and her thorough 
restoration to health by its use, Jem Sheed caused large 
quantities of grapes to be gathered and left in a braised 
condition in larger vessels, and soon his entire court sung 
the praises of the Zeher-e-koosk, or " the delightful poison," 
as they named it. 

Hafiz, the favorite poet of the Persians, thus sings the 
praises of wine : 

That poignant liquor which the zealot calls the mother of sins, 
is pleasanter and sweeter to me than the kisses of a maiden. 

" The only friends who are free from care are a goblet of wine 
and a book of odes. 

" The tulip is acquainted with the faithlessness of the world ; 
for from the time that it blows till it dies, it holds the cup in its 
hand. 

" Give me wine ! wine that shall subdue the strongest ; that I 
may for a time forget the cares and troubles of the world. 

" The roses have come, nor can anything afford so much 
pleasure as a goblet of wine. 

" The enjoyments of life are vain ; bring wine, for the trap- 
pings of the world are perishable." * 

Herodotus, who wrote about 450 B. C, says that "the 
Persians are much addicted to wine. They are used to 
debate the most important affairs when intoxicated; but 
whatever they have determined on in such deliberations, is 7 
on the following day, when they are sober, proposed to 
them by the master of the house where they have met to 
consult ; and if they approve of it w T hen sober also, then 
they adopt it ; if not, they reject it ; and whatever they 
have first resolved on when sober, they reconsider when in- 
toxicated." He also relates that when Cyrus, about 538 
B. C, made war upon the Massagetse, of Central Asia, he 

*Morewood on Inebriating Liquors, p. 61. 



Intemperance in Persia. 91 

made a feint of deserting his camp, leaving in it flowing 
goblets of wine, which tempting the enemy to excess, Cyrus 
attacked them and gained a victory ; also that Cambyses, 
son and successor of Cyrus, sent, among other gifts, a cask 
of palm wine to the king of Ethiopia.* 

Although, as will be shown hereafter, the rules of the 
Mohammedan religion are acknowledged by the modern Per- 
sians, their earlier successes as conquerors of Babylon, their 
union with the Medes, a people of luxurious habits, ad- 
dicted them to intemperance ; and leading them to the cul- 
tivation of the vine for the purpose of obtaining wine, their 
ancient Empire was overthrown, they having become in 
two hundred years from the conquest of Babylon, the most 
drunken nation on the earth, entailing on their descendants 
a love and practice of inebriation. They are much less strict 
Mohammedans than are other nations that have adopted 
the creed of the Prophet, and their wines are celebrated for 
their abundance, strength and flavor. Sir J. Chardin, who 
travelled extensively among them, states that " as much as 
a horse can carry of their best wines can be purchased for 
twelve shillings, and the more common sorts do not cost 
more than half that money." Attending an entertainment 
at the house of a royal prince, he describes their manner of 
drinking as follows : 

" The prince's nearest relations, selecting about eight in num- 
ber, were first presented with vessels of wine, which they drank 
standing up. The same bowls being filled again, were carried 
to the next persons, and so on, until the health bad been drunk 
round. After tbis, tbe next health was drunk in larger cups, 
for it was the custom of the country to drink tbe healths of 
great personages in large vessels. Tbis was done on purpose to 
make their guests more effectually drunk. Tbis desired climax 
would soon be attained, when we consider tbe size of tbeir 
glasses. Tbe first glasses used were of the common sort, but tbe 
last contained about a pint and a half of wine." t 

* Herodotus, i. 133, 211. iii. 20. 

t Sir J. Chardin's Travels, pp. 228, 229. 



92 Alcohol in History. 

Tavernier, another traveller, bears witness to the same 
excess in Armenian Persia. Xo man who gives an enter- 
tainment considers that lie hr^ shown true hospitality till 
he has made his guests so drunk that they cannot find their 
out of the room. The more they reel and stagger 
about, the less reason has he to regret the expense of the 
feast. He also says of the Persian Georgians, that their 
use of stimulants is so common that on entering the din- 
ing-room each guest is presented with a half-glassful of 
aqua vitae, to excite his appetite. Wine, though the native 
drink of the country, soon fails there, as elsewhere, to sat- 
isfy the toper. " They love the strongest drinks best, for 
which reason, both men and women drink more aqua vitae 
than wine. It is also observable that at the women's fes- 
tivals, there is more wine and aqua vitae drunk than at the 
men's." * A drink prepared from herbs, and made more 
intoxicating by an infusion of hemp seed, was in use at that 
time. It was called Bengueh, and was no doubt similar to 
if not identical with the Banga of the Avesta. More re- 
cent travellers speak of the great quantities of arrack, a 
fiery and rapid intoxicant, consumed in Persia. Rev. J. 
EL Shedd, writing from Oroomiah, Persia, says of the Pro- 
testant missionaries in that province : 

" We have never found wine an ally to the temperance cause, 
though it flows around us almost as cheap and abundant as 
water. During the wine season beastly druukenness is too com- 
mon to excite comment. I have been in large villages on a 
feast-day, when it was nearly impossible to find a sober man in 
the place. The corruption of morals, the degradation of mind, 
the midnight carousals, the losses from riotous living, from idle- 
ness, quarrelling, and crime, are too enormous to be exaggera- 
ted. The wine-weddings, with their train of evils, are the ene- 
my of the Christian peasant, and the source of debt and misery 
tint often crush him, and break up his home. Many acquire 
the passion for stimulants, and pass from wine to arrack, a rum 
distilled from raisins. Thus wine is a Mocker, and multitudes 
are in the road tb ruin through the curse of Strong Drink. 

* Persian Travels, vol. i. p. 243. 



Intemperance in Egypt 93 

Among the nominal Christians of Persia, and many other places 
of the East, the worst destroyer of the soul and obstacle to the 
Gospel is wine, and the attendant intemperance. " * 

"A Moslem prince lately asked me," says Arthur Arnold^ 
11 why I drank wine ? It does not make you drunk. I take 
arrack/' t Many excuse themselves for drinking ardent 
Spirits, on the ground that it is the use of wine alone that 
Mohammed prohibits. 

The Parsees of India, not over 110,000 in number, ac- 
cording to their great champion, Framjee,J claim to be the 
descendants, in point of faith, of the ancient Zoroastrians. 
Concerning them, Framjee, while conceding that such as 
can afford it, drink large quantities of wine at supper, de- 
nies that they drink intoxicants during the daytime. No 
doubt, then, the nights are long, and faithfully devoted to 
drinking, else how could their "826 tavern keepers, and 
5,227 liquor sellers, distillers, and palm-wine drawers/' 
which he enumerates, (and against whom he places but 
" 417 bakers and confectioners,") find patronage ? 

IV. Egypt.— The testimony of ancient writers in regard 
to the intoxicating drinks made and used by the Egyptians, 
is conflicting, and therefore of little worth. Herodotus says : 
" They use wine made of barley, for they have no vines 
in that country." § But previous to this, speaking of the 
advantages enjoyed by the priests, he says : " Sacred food 
is cooked for them, and a great quantity of beef and geese is 
allowed each of them every day, and wine from the grape is 
given them.' 7 1 1 His statement in regard to " no vines in the 
country," must therefore refer to that part of the country 

* Quoted by Eev Dawson Burns, in Christendom and the 
Drink Curse, pp. 219, 220. 

t Through Persia by Caravan, Vol ii. p. 322. 

J The Parsees, by Dcsabhoy Framjee. Quoted by Samuel- 
son, p. 57. 

§ Ek. ii. 77. 

!| Ibid. Bk. ii. 37. 



94 Alcohol in History. 

u which is sown with corn," the part specified at the com- 
mencement of the paragraph. He also identifies Osiris 
with the Greek Bacchus, and claims that the Egyptians 
also made them identical. Plutarch's testimony is to the 
same effect. # The latter says of the use of wine among 
the Egyptians, that their kings, being also priests — 

" Began first to drink it in the reign of King Psammeticus, 
but before tliat time they were not used to drink wine at all, no, 
nor to pour it forth in sacrifice, as a thing they thought anyway 
grateful to the gods, but as the blood of those who in ancient 
times waged war against the gods, from whom, falling down 
from heaven, and mixing with the earth, they conceived vines 
to have first sprung ; which is the reason, say they, that drunk- 
enness renders men beside themselves and mad, they being, as 
it were, gorged with the blood of their ancestors." f 

But Homer, who flourished about 1000 B. C, and 400 
years before Psammeticus, refers the invention of drugged 
wines to Egypt : 

" But Helen now on new device did stand, 
Infusing straight a medicine to their wine, 
That, drowning cares and angers, did decline 
All thought of ill. Who drank her cup could shed 
All that day not a tear, no not if dead 
That day his father and his mother were, 
Not if his brother, child, or chiefest dear, 
He should see murder' d then before his face. 

5? $fr >{s >fi >fi ;jc vfi 

And this juice to her Polydama gave, 
The wife of Thoon, an Egyptian born.":): 

And we find from Genesis xl. 11-13, that the vine 
supplied grapes for the king's table in the time of Joseph, 
1876 B. C, and that it was the duty of the butler to press 
the grapes into Pharaoh's cup, and then deliver the cup in- 
to Pharaoh's hand. This, it is true, produced an unintox- 
cating beverage, but it shows that the vine was not then 
regarded with contempt. 

* Morals, Vol. iv. Article, Isis and Osiris, p. 79. 

t Ibid. p. 71. 

t Odyssey, Bk. iv. 



Intemperance in Egypt 95 

Hellanicus the historian, about 4C0 B. 0., says that 
" The vine was first discovered in Plinthina, a city of Egypt ; 
on which account Dion, the Academic philosopher, calls the 
Egyptians fond of wine and fond of drinking ; and also, that as 
subsidiary to wine, in the case of those who, on account of their 
poverty, could not get wine, there was introduced a custom of 
drinking beer made of barley ; and moreover, that those who 
drank this beer were so pleased with it that they sung and 
danced, and did everything like men drunk with wine." * 

It also appears from the Monument s, that the cultivation 
of grapes and the art of wine-making were well understood 
in Egypt from the time of the Pyramids, according to Bun- 
sen, 3229 years B. C, or according to Lepsius, 8426 B. O.t 
And although Herodotus and Plutarch and other authorities 
differ as to the extent of the use of wine in the sacrificial rites, 
it is evident, from the delineations on the most ancient fres- 
coes, that no restrictions w r ere put upon its use by men or wom- 
en in social and private life. Wilkinson gives several illus- 
trations of these pictures,! in some of which servants are car- 
rying their insensible masters home from a drinking frolic, 
while the female attendants on their wives and daughters, 
are represented as supporting them as they sit at the feast, 
unable without such help to prevent themselves from fall- 
ing on those seated beside or behind them, and often so 
sick in their debauch as to be unable to conduct themselves 
with decency. So ambitious were they in their gross 
rivalries as to who should imbibe the most, that various 
articles of stimulating food were placed on their tables, in- 
tended to create thirst and otherwise excite the palate. So 
great was the consumption of wine, that, in the time of 
Herodotus, large importations were received twice a year 
from Phoenicia and Greece. 

" Egyptian beer was made from barley ; but as hops were un- 
known, they were obliged to have recourse to other plants, in 



* Athenseus, Bk. i. chap. 61. 

t Egypt, Past and Present, by Joseph P. Thompson, p. 349. 
% " A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians, by Sir J. 
Gardner Wilkinson." Vol. I. pp. 52, 53. 



96 Alcohol in History. 

order to give it a grateful flavor ; and the lupin, the sldrret 
n sisanim), and the root of an xYssyrian plant were used by 
them for that purpose. 

" Besides beer, the Egyptians had what Pliny calls factitious, 
or artificial wine, extracted from various fruits, as figs, myaxas, 
pomegranates, as well as herbs, some of which were selected 
for their medicinal properties. The Greeks and Latins com- 
prehended every kind of beverage made by the process of fer- 
mentation, under the same general name, and beer was desig- 
nated as barley- wine ; but by the use of the name zythos, they 
show that the Egyptians distinguished it by its. own peculiar 
appellation." * 

V. Greece and Rome. — Entering now, as our field 
of observation, those classic regions with whose customs all 
are more or less acquainted, the literature of the people be- 
ing in part an enforced study in the curriculum of a liberal 
education, we have to do with two of the most wonderful 
nations that have ever flourished on the earth. 

The Greeks have an early and long extended history, 
and in addition thereto, a mythical period, valuable at least 
for this, that it acquaints us with the customs which must 
have prevailed when the writers of that period flourished. 

The most valuable work illustrative of the domestic and 
social life and manners of the Greeks, and also throwing 
much light on the manners and customs of other ancient 
peoples, is the Deipnosophistse, (Banquet of the Learned), 
by Atheng3us, a rhetorician , and encyclopsedian com- 
piler, who lived in the beginning of the third century of the 
present era. His work is in the form of a dialogue between 
above twenty eminent lawyers, poets, and representatives 
of the various learned professions, who are supposed to meet 
at a banquet given by a rich citizen of Rome, where each 
draws upon his learning to discourse of feasts in general, 
and to enlarge on the great variety of subjects naturally 
suggested by talking of the customs of the ancients. They 
profess to deal chiefly with facts, and refer profusely to the 
authorities for their statements. 

* Ibid, p. 54. 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 97 

Of course, they have much to say of wine, for although 
the Greeks made intoxicating drinks from figs, roots and 
the palm, as also from barley, and their mixed drinks were 
almost without number, their chief beverage was wine 
made from grapes. The origin of the wine, is, in many 
fanciful ways, attributed to the gods, chiefly, but not exclu- 
sively, to Bacchus. He discovered, rather than created it. 
Homer frequently enumerates vineyards among the posses- 
sions of his heroes ; but probably because so little is really 
known of the origin of the vine, many fables were origina- 
ted to account for it, both among the poets and the com- 
mon people. Deucalion, who is famed in fable as having 
peopled the earth after the flood, had a son Orestheus, who 
owned a dog, which in lieu of giving birth to pups, brought 
forth a small piece of wood, which being buried, sprung up 
a vine loaded with grapes. Orestheus having shortly af- 
ter, a son, named him OEneus, from the vine, for that was 
the ancient name for the vine. Athenseus gives as his 
authority for this fable, Hecatseus, who wrote about 450 
B. C. He also quotes ISTicander, 146 B. C, as authority 
that wine, oinos, has its name from (Eneus : 

" (Eneus poured the juice divine 
In hollow cups, and called it wine." 

And a still earlier authority for the story, is found in 
Melanippides, about 450 B. C, who said ; " 7 Twas (Eneus, 
master, gave his name to wine/ 7 * 

Others suppose a spot near Olympia to have first pro- 
duced it, in proof of which, a miracle was said to be wrought 
there annually during the Dionysiac (Bacchic) festival ; 
and still others that the Greeks brought it from the shores 
of the Red Sea.f Plato, 400 B. C, after ordaining in his 
Second Book of Laws that boys should never taste wine at 
all, and men of thirty years of age should drink sparingly, 
if at all, but that those who are forty may feast at large 



* Athenieus, B. ii. ch. 1. f Ibid, B. xv. ch. 17. 

7 



98 Alcohol in Hist or ?j. 

banquets and invoke the gods, especially Bacchus, since 
he gave wine as an antidote against the austerity of old 
age ? adds: 

" But there is a report and story told that this god was once 
deprived of his mind and senses by his mother-in-law, Juno ; on 
which account he sent Bacchic frenzy, and all sorts of frantic 
rage, among men, out of revenge for the treatment which he 
had received ; on which account also, he gave wine to men." * 

This story is certainly the best borne out by facts of any 
of the numerous ancient fables of the origin of wine 7 for 
whatever transient j oy its use may impart to its users, it is 
sure to be revealed as an enemy at the last. There is a 
Grecian legend not mentioned indeed by Athenaeus, but 
quite old enough to be worthy of as much regard as is paid 
to such as we have already cited, that contains some sug- 
gestive thoughts, so well does it portray the present as well 
as the past consequences of wine drinking. It runs in this 
wise : 

" When Bacchus was a boy he journeyed through Hellas to go 
to Naxia ; and, as the way was very long, he grew tired, and sat 
down upon a stone to rest. As he sat there, with his eyes upon 
the ground, he saw a little plant spring up between his feet, and 
was so much pleased with it that he determined to take it with 
him and plant it in Naxia. He took it up and carried it away 
with him ; but, as the sun was very hot, he feared it might 
wither before he reached his destination. He found a bird's 
skeleton, into which he thrust it, and went on. But m his hand 
the plant sprouted so fast that it started out of the bones above 
and below. This gave him fresh fear of its withering, and he cast 
about for a remedy. He found a lion's bone, which was thicker 
than the bird's skeleton, and he stuck the skeleton, with the 
plant in it, into the bone of the lion. Ere long, however, the 
plant grew out of the lion's bone likewise. Then he found the 
bone of an ass, larger still than that of the lion. So he put the 
lion's, containing the bird's skeleton and the plant, into the ass's 
bone, and thus he made his way to Naxia. When about to set 
the plant, he found that the roots had entwined themselves 
around the bird's skeleton and the lion's bone and the ass's 
bone ) and, as he could not take it out without damaging the 

* Ibid, B. x. ch. 55. 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 99 

roots, he planted it as it was, and it came np speedily, and bore, 
to liis great joy, the most delicious grapes, from which he made 
the first wine, and gave it to men to drink. But, behold a mir- 
acle ! When men drank of it, they first sang like birds ; next, 
after drinking a little more, they became vigorous and gallant 
like lions ; but, when they drank more still, they began to be- 
have like asses." 

Bacchus, as we have already seen, had different names 
in different countries. His Greek name was Dionysus, 
and the story of his origin is both wonderful and ridiculous. 
His common name, Bacchus, is from a Greek word which 
means " to revel," and the other names given him by the 
Greeks denoted other peculiarities by which he was distin- 
guished.* He is represented in the ancient paintings with 
a red face, a bloated body, carried in a chariot sometimes 
drawn by tigers and lions, sometimes by other animals, 
and having as a guard a drunken band of satyrs, demons 
and nymphs that preside over the wine presses. He is of- 
ten followed by Silenus, his foster-father, who drinks with 
him from the same cup, and is almost always intoxicated, as 
he is described in the sixth eclogue of Virgil. 

Bacchus was a great traveller, and wherever he went he 
taught the culture of the vine and the mode of making 
wine. He also taught certain mysteries, which were chief- 
ly followed by the women, who from the effects which the 
rites had on them, were called Thyades and Maenades, 
names which denote madness and folly. At Sparta he was 
worshipped under the name of Sukites, because, says Sosi- 
bios, he was supposed to be the discoverer of the fig. So- 
phocles called him the "many named/ 7 because in the Or- 
phic hymns alone, more than forty of his appellations are 
met with. Not only do we glean from the representations 
of him during his supposed existence on the earth that like 
the gods of India and Persia he delights in intemperance, 
bnt the festivals instituted in his honor after his death be- 



* Tooke, in his Pantheon of the Heathen Gods, gives him 
nineteen other names. 



100 Alcohol in History. 

came so riotous and dissolute that at last the arm of the 
law was invoked for their suppression. 

In the mythic writings of Homer we find that both the 
higher and the lower orders of demi-gods and men are 
similarly affected by the use of wines ; that the wines of 
one country are exported to other lands, and wherever used 
produce intoxication. For example when Ulysses reaches 
the " outlawed Cyclops' land/ 7 he finds 

u A race 
Of proud-lived loiterers, that never sow, 
Kor put a plant in earth, nor nse a plow, 
But trust the gods for all things ; and their earth, 
Unsown, unplow'd, gives every offspring birth 
That other lands have ; wheat, and barley, vines 
That bear in goodly grapes delicious wines 5 
And Jove sends showers for all." 

Obtaining provisions from a neighboring island abound- 
ing in goats, the crews of the "twelve ships In the fleet/' 
made a feast, at which they had abundance of wine. 

11 Even till the sun was set, 
We sat and feasted, pleasant wine and meat 
Plenteously taking ; for we had not spent 
Our ruddy wine a ship-board, supplement 
Of large sort each man to his vessel drew, 
When we the sacred city overthrew 
That held the Cicons." 

The day after the feast, Ulysses took twelve of his 
friends and went on shore to visit the great Cyclop Poly- 
phemus, and, as a present, carried, 

"A goat-skin flagon of wine, black and strong," 

which he had obtained, "In Thracian Ismans."* 

The Cyclop having received them in a barbarous manner^ 
and devoured six of the crew, he is made drunk by the 
wine, and Ulysses with his remaining comrades escapes. 

* Odyssey, Bk. ix. 167-174 ; 239-245-. 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 101 

In the drunken riot in which the suitors of Penelope en- 
gage, Ulysses slays Antinous "As he was lifting up the 
bowl )" and in the conversation which precedes this tragedy, 
it is made known that the long war terminating in the 
destruction of the Centaurs, was occasioned by a drunken 
frolic* 

Homer also makes Agamemnon say, 

" Disastrous folly led me thus astray, 
Or wine's excess, or madness sent from Jove." 

And Achilles, thus to reproach Agamemnon : 

" Tyrant, with sense and courage quelled by wine." t 

The writers in the Historic period, ev.en such of them as 
praise wine, also bear witness that it is a mocker, and that 
the most fearful consequences follow its use. " Pitta cus, 
one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece," 612 B. C, "recom- 
mended Periander of Priene not to get drunk, i so that/ 
says he, ' it may not be discovered what sort of a person 
you really are, and that you are not what you pretend 
to be !' 

' For brass may be a mirror for the face — 
Wine for the mind.' " 

" On which account they were wise men who invented the 
proverb : i Wine has no rudder. 7 Accordingly, Xenophon 
the son of Gryllus, (when once at the table of Dionysius, 
tryrant of Sicily, the cupbearer was compelling the guests to 
drink), addressed the tyrant himself by name, and said, 
1 Why, Dionysius, does not also the confectioner, who is 
a skilful man in his way, and one who understands a great 
many different recipes for dressing things, compel us also, 
when we are at a banquet, to eat even when we do not 
wish to ; but why, on the contrary, does he spread the 
table for us in an orderly manner, in silence ? ? And Soph- 
ocles, 450 B. C, in one of his satiric dramas, says : 

( To be compelled to drink is quite as hard 
As to be forced to bear with thirst.' 

*Ibid, Bk. xxi. 387-400. xxii. 13. t Athenseus, Bk. i. 18. 



102 Alcohol in History. 

From which also is derived the saying : 

' Wine makes an old man danco against Ms will.' 

And Sthenelus the poet, 400 B. 0., said very well: 
( Wine can bring e'en the wise to acts of folly.'* 

" Panyasis the epic poet, 490 B. C, allots the first cup 
of wine to the Graces, the Hours, and Bacchus ; the second 
to Venus, and again to Bacchus ; the third to insolence and 
destruction. t Euripides, 480 B. C, says, l Drinking is 
sire of blows and violence. ? J Epicharmus, 470 B. C, says, 

1 A. Sacrifices feasts produce, 

Drinking then from feasts proceeds. 
B. Such rotation has its use. 
A. Then the drinking riot breeds ; 

Then on riot and confusion 

Follow law and prosecution ; 

Law brings sentence, sentence chains ; 

Chains brings wounds and ulcerous § pains.* 

Enpolis, 446 B. C, says : 

1 He who first invented wine, 
Made poor man a greater sinner.' " || 

iEschylus, 490 B. 0., represents the Greeks as fre- 
quently so drunk as to break their drinking cups and other 
utensils about each other's heads. And Sophocles says, in 
his Banquet of the Greeks : 

" He in his anger threw too well 
The vessel with an evil smell 
Against my head, and filled the room 
With something not much like perfume ; 
So that I swear I nearly fainted 
With the foul steam the vessel vented." 1F 

Antiphanes, 408 B. C, in his iEolus, speaking of a temp- 
tation to do a base thing, which came to Macareus, says 
that he 

* Ibid, Bk. x. 31. t Ibid, Bk. ii. 3. % Ibid, Bk. ii. 4. 
$ Ibid, Bk. ii 3. || Ibid, Bk. i. 30. % Ibid, Bk. i. 30. . 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 103 

"For a while 
Repressed the evil thought, and checked himself; 
But after some short time he wine admitted 
To he his general, under whose lead 
Audacity takes the place of prudent counsel, 
And so by might his purpose he accomplished." * 

Critias, 400 B. C, in his Elegies, speaks of the effects of 
wine : 

" After draughts like this, the tongue gets loose, 
And turns to most unseemly conversation ; 
They make the body weak ; they throw a mist 
Over the eyes ; and make forgetfulness 
Eat recollection out of the full heart. 
For fierce, immoderate draughts of heady wine 
Give momentary pleasure, but engender 
A long-enduring pain which follows it." t 

Pytheas, 380 B. C, says on the same theme : " You see 
the demagogues of the present day, Demosthenes and 
Denades, how very differently they live. For the one is a 
water- drinker, and devotes his nights to contemplation, as 
they say ; and the other is a debauchee, and is drunk every 
day, and comes like a great pot-bellied fellow, as he is, 
into our assemblies. 77 \ 

Eubulus, 375 B. 0., after extolling water, and saying 
that it never produces bad effects, while u wine obscures 
and clouds the mind/ 7 makes even Bacchus say : 

' ' Let them three parts of wine all duly season 
With nine of water, who'd preserve their reason. 
The first gives health, the second sweet desires, 
The third tranquillity and sleep inspires. 
These are the wholesome draughts which will men please^ 
Who from the banquet-house return in peace. 
From a fourth measure insolence proceeds ; 
Uproar a fifth ; a sixth wild license breeds ; 
A seventh brings black eyes and livid bruises; 
The eighth the constable introduces ; 
Black gall and hatred lurk the ninth beneath ; 
The tenth is madness, arms, and fearful death. 



* Ibid, Bk. x. 62. t Ibid, Bk. x. 41. \ Ibid, Bk. ii. 23. 



104 Alcohol in History. 

For too much wine poured in one little vessel 
Trills up all those who seek with it to wrestle." * 

And Alexis, 350 B. C, testifies, in his Ulysses Weaving: 

" For many a banquet which endures too long, 
And many and daily feasts, are wont t'engender 
Insult and mockery ; and those kind of jests 
Give far more pain than they do raise amusement, 
For such are the first ground of evil-speaking ; 
And if you once begin t'attack your neighbor, 
You quickly do receive back all you bring, 
And then abuse and quarrels surely follow ; 
Then blows and drunken riot. For this is 
The natural course of things, and needs no prophet." f 

And in his Phrygian, he says : 

" If now men only did their headaches get 
Before they get so drunk, Fm sure that no one 
Would ever drink more than a moderate quantity : 
But now we hope to 'scape the penalty 
Of our intemperance, and so discard 
Eestraint, and drink unmixed cups of wine." J 

Wisely then, does he ask : 

li Is not, then, drunkenness the greatest evil, 
And most injurious to the human race ? " § 

Diphilus, about 340 B. C, says of Bacchus : 

"You make the lowly-hearted proud, 
And bid the gloomy laugh aloud ; 
You fill the feeble man with daring, 
And cowards strut and bray past bearing." || 

Crobylus, 324 B. C, in his Female Deserter, says of the 
use of wine, that men 

" Can have 
No x>ieasure in it, surely ; how. should it, 
TThen it dejmves a living man of power 
To think as he should think ? and yet is thought 
The greatest blessing that is given to men." 

*Ibid, Bk. ii. 19. f Ibid, Bk. x. 17. t Ihid, Bk. x. 34. 

§ Ibid, Bk. x. 61. || Ibid, Bk. ii. 2. 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 105 

And lie significantly asks 

" What pleasure, prithee tell me, can there be 
In getting always drunk? in, while still living, 
Yourself depriving thus of all your senses ; 
The greatest good which nature e'er has given ? " * 

And Callimachus, 260 B. C, testifies that, 

" Wine is like fire when 'tis to men applied, 
Or like the storm that sweeps the Libyan tide ; 
The furious wind the lowest depth can reach, 
And wine robs man of knowledge, sense, and speech. ' ? 

The Greeks at their feasts, puzzled and amused each other 
with enigmas, conundrums, riddles, and such like mysteries 
as pleased their wits. Some of these were nonsensical, 
and some were wonderfully ingenious and acute. The 
penalty for not guessing or otherwise discovering the cor- 
rect answers, was to be compelled to empty at one draught, 
the largest cups or goblets of wine. Their drinking cups, 
or as they were sometimes called, vases, were often formed 
from the large horns of the Molasian and Poemian oxen. 
Small cups were in bad repute. There was one bowl, 
which, on account of its enormous size, was called the 
Elephant. 

" A. If this hold not enough, see the boy comes 

Bearing the Elephant. 
1 i B. Immortal Gods ! 

What thing is that ? 
u A. A double foantained cup, 

The workmanship of Alcon : it contains 

Only three gallons." f 

The practice of drinking wine from the horns of bulls 
and oxen, has been regarded by some as suggesting to 
artists the idea of representing Bacchus with horns, and the 
epithet of the Bull Dionysus. At Cyzicos he was worship- 
ped under the form of a bull.t 

* Ibid, Bk. x. 34, 61. 

t Ibid, Bk. xi. 35. 

t Boeckh. Pub. Econ. of Athens, Vol. ii. p. 254. 



106 Alcohol in History. 

There was a peculiar kind of cup called Grammateion, 
from the letters of gold chased on it. Alexis thus speaks 
it: 

" A. But let me first describe the cup ; 'twas round, 
Old, broken-eared, and precious small besides, 
Having, indeed, some letters on't. 
B. Yes, letters; 

Eleven, and all of gold, forming the name 
Of Saviour Zeus. 
A. Tush ! no, some other god." * 

Athenseus relates that at the marriage of Caranus, Proteas 
drank upwards of a gallon of wine at a draught, exclaim- 
ing— 

" Most joy is in his soul, 
Who drains the largest bowl ;" 

and was immediately presented by Caranus with the im- 
mense goblet which he had drained. Other capacious gob- 
lets were then produced, and the host declared that every 
man should claim as his own property the bowl w T hose con- 
tents he could despatch. Xine valiant drinkers at once 
started to their feet, vieing with each other as to who should 
empty his goblot first, while one poor wight, whose capacity 
was not equal to such a venture, sat down and burst into 
tears, because he must go away cupless. The bridegroom, 
unwilling that any grief should mingle in the feast, gra- 
ciously presented him with an empty cup. f 

Among the inscriptions to be found on monuments in 
different cities, as preserved by Polemon, 150 B. C, are the 
following : 

u This is the monument of that great drinker, 
Arcadion ; and Ms two loving sons, 
Dor con and Charmylus, have placed it here, 
At this the entrance of Ms native city : 
And know, traveller, the man did die 
From drinking strong wine in too large a cup." 

* Athenseus, Bk. xi. 30. t Ibid, Bk. iv. 4. 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 107 

1 Twice was this cap, fall of tlio strongest wine, 
Dramd by the thirsty Erasixenus, 
And then in turn it carried him away." 

From the large number of enigmas, puzzles and conun- 
drums preserved by Athena?us, as invented at the feasts of 
tlie Greeks, the following are selected as specimens of the 
best : 
" A. It is not mortal, nor immortal either, 

But as it were, compounded of the two, 

So that it neither lives the life of man, 

Nor yet of God, but is incessantly 

New-born again, and then again deprived 

Of this its present life ; invisible, 

Yet it is known and recognized by all. 
B. You always do delight, O lady, in riddles. 

A. No, I am speaking plain and simple things. 

B. What child then is there which has such a nature ? 
A 'Tis sleep, my girl, victor of human toils.'' 

11 A. There is a thing which speaks, yet has no tongue: 
A female of the same name as the male j 
A steward of the winds, which it holds fast : 
Rough, and yet sometimes smooth ; full of dark voices, 
Scarce to be understood by learned men ; 
Producing harmony after harmony : 
'Tis one thing, and yet many ; e'en if wounded 
'Tis still invulnerable and unhurt ; 
B. What can that be ! 

A. Why, don't you know, CaliistTatus ? 
It is a bellows. 

B. You are joking now. 

A. No ; don't it speak, although it has no tongue ? 
Has it not but one name with many people ? 
I'st not unhurt, though with a wound in the centre ? 
Is it not sometimes rough, and sometimes smooth ? 
Is it not, too, a guardian of much wind ? " 

11 1 know a thing which, while it's young, is heavy, 
But when its old, though void of wings, can fly 
With lightest motion, out of sight o' th' earth." 

The answer is, the thistledown ; for it, 

"While it is young stands solid in its seed, 
But when it loses that, i3 light and flies, 
Blown about every way by playful children." 



108 Alcohol in History. 

" S. There is a female thing which holds her young 
Safely beneath her bosom ; they, though mute, 
Cense not to utter a loud sounding voice 
Across the swelling sea, and o'er the land, 
Speaking to every mortal that they choose ; 
But those who present are can nothing hear, 
Still they have some sensation of faint sound. 

" B. The female thing you speak of is a city, 
The children whom it nourishes, orators ; 
They, crying out, bring from across the sea, 
From Asia and from Thrace, all sorts of presents ; 
The people still is near them while they feed on it, 
And pour reproaches ceaselessly around, 
T\ Tiile it nor sees nor hears aught that they do. 

S. But how, my father, tell me, in God's name, 
Can you e'er say an orator is mute, 
Unless, indeed, he's been three times convicted? 

B. And yet I thought that I did understand 
The riddle rightly. Tell me then yourself. 

S. The female thing you speak of is a letter, 

The young she bears about her is the writing : 
They're mute themselves, yet speak to those afar off 
Whene'er they please. And yet a bystander, 
However near he may be, hears no sound 
From him who has received and reads the letter." 

" Of a]l the things the genial earth produces, 
Or the deep sea, there is no single one, 
Kor any man or other animal, 
"Whose growth at all can corresiiond to this: 
For when it first is born its size is greatest ; 
At middle age 'tis scarcely visible, 
So small it's grown ; but when 'tis old and hastens 
Nigh to its end, it then becomes again 
Greater than all the objects that surround it." 

The answer is, a Shadow. 

" What is the strongest of all things ? " " Iron," said 
one, " for with that material men dig and cut all other 
things." "Xo," said the second, "the blacksmith is the 
strongest, for he makes the iron into any shape and for 
any purpose that he chooses." " You are both wrong," 
said the third, "love can subdue even a blacksmith 5 there- 
fore love is the strongest of all things." 



Intemperance in Greece and Borne. 109 

The following refers to Night and Day : 

u There are two sisters, one of whom brings forth 
The other, and in turn becomes its daughter." * 

Music and song were accompaniments of the feasts, and 
a burning bowl called Oidos, or " the cup of song/' re- 
warded him whose skill pleased the drinkers. 1 The 
young drank to their mistresses, sometimes taking as many 
cups as there were letters in her name 5 sometimes restrain- 
ing their appetite by taking a glass to each of the three 
Graces ; but when in for a frolic they chose the Muses 
for their patrons, and honored their mistresses' names with 
three times three. Hence, it is said, the custom so well 
observed in political circles, of honoring candidates for 
office, with cheers. % 

Aristophanes, 430 B. C. represents the women of Athens 
as extravagantly given to the nse of wine 5 so much as to 
pawn their wardrobes to procure it, and manufacturing 
counterfeit keys to their husbands' wine cellars. § Phalse- 
cus, 320 B. C, in his Epigrams, mentions a woman who 
was a notorious drinker : 

*' Cleo bestow'd this splendid gift on Bacchus, 
The tunic, fringed with gold and saffron hues, 
"Which long she woTe herself ; so great she was 
At feasts and revelry : there was no man 
Who could at all contend with her in drinking." 

Alexis speaks of a certain woman, as "Zopyra that 
■wine-cask." 

And Antipluvnes, in his Female Bacchanalians, makes 
the sweeping assertion : 

' ' Tin sure 
He is a wretched man who ever marries 

* Ibid, Bk. x. chapters, 71, 13, 74, 75. 
t Ibid, Bk. ad. 110. 

X St. John. Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, Vol. ii. 
p. 192. 

§ Aristoph. Lysistrata, p. 18, 



110 Alcohol in History. 

Except among the Scythians ; for their country 
Is the sole land which does not hear the vine." * 

iEschylus, 480 B. C, is said to have been the first 
person who introduced the appearance of drunken people 
into a tragedy. " But the fact is," says Athenseus, " that 
the practices which the tragedian himself used to indulge 
in, he attributed to his heroes j at all events he used to 
write his tragedies when he w^as drunk ) on which account 
Sophocles used to reproach him., and say to him, ' O 
.ZEschylus, even if you do what you ought,, at all events 
you do so without knowing itJ " f 

The excuses offered twenty-five hundred years ago, for 
drinking, were identical with those often so glibly offered 
now. Alexus, the lyric poet, who flemished in 612 B« O.j 
thus offers them : 

" In winter cold 

Let's drive away 
The wintry cold, and heap up fire. 
And mingle with unsparing hand 
The honied cup, and wreathe our brows 
With fragrant garlands of the season. 

u In Spring : 

Now does the flowery spring return, 
And shed its gifts all o'er the land. 

" In Summer : 

Now it behooves a man to soak his lungs 

In most cool wine ; for the fierce dog^star rages, 

And all things thirst with the excessive heat. 

u In Misfortunes : 

By grieving 
We shall not do ourselves much good. 
Come to me, Bacchus ; you are ever 
The best of remedies, who bring . 
Us wine and joyous drunkenness. 

* Athenauis, Bk- x. 56, 57, tlbid, Bk. x. 33. 



Intemperance in Greece and Rome, 111 

" In Joy : 

Now is the time to get well drunk, 
Xow e'en in spite of self to drink." * 

As in Greece, so in Italy, the first mention of wine is in 
the fables, and not in the history, of the people. Mezentius, 
a mythical king of the Etruscans or Tyrrhenians said to have 
been cotemporary with JEneas, of Troy, by whom he was slain 
in battle, granted peace to the people whom he conquered, 
on condition that they should annually pay as a ransom, all 
the wine that was produced in their country. Virgil's 
iEneid giyes the story of his " unutterable barbarities/ 7 
and of the drunkenness of his followers. 

Pliny, who wrote about C5 B. C, states in his Natural 
History, that wine was well known in Rome from the earliest 
period in its history, about 700 B. C, as Mecenius slew his 
wife because she had tasted the intoxicating draught. The 
early laws and usages in relation to drinking by women, we 
shall haye occasion to notice hereafter, but it is certain that 
in later periods of the history of the city men and women 
got drunk together in most licentious carousals. At the 
time of issuing the decree of Numa, about 650 B. C., 
wine was a scarcity, as its use was forbidden as a libation 
to the gods, and for sprinkling on the funeral pyre ; 
and for a long time after it was so scarce that milk was 
employed instead : and when in 319 B. C, Papiyius was 
about to engage in a decisiye combat with the Samnites, he 
vowed, as the choicest and rarest gift that he could offer, to 
sacrifice "a small cup of wine to Jupiter, if he should grant 
him the victory." 

Shortly after this, however, the production of native 
wines greatly increased, and there were large importations 
from Greece, so large that it is mentioned to the praise 
of Cato, another general, about 220 B. C., that he set him- 
self against the growing luxury of the times, by refusing 
to partake of any better wines than were served out to 

*Ibid. Bk. x. 35. 



112 Alcohol in History. 

the men of his command. Little more than a century later, 
according- to Varro, the illustrious Lucullus, on his 
return from a successful campaign in Asia, distributed 
about 60,000 gallons of Greek wine among the people, as 
a gift. A little later, about 50 B. C, Hortensius, the rival 
orator of Cicero, left to his heir 10,000 casks of Chian wine 
in the cellar of one of his country residences. It was at 
this time, according to Pliny, that Caesar placed upon his 
table, at a banquet, Falernian, Chian, Lesbon and Mamer- 
tine wines, " the first occasion," says Pliny, " on which 
four kinds of wine were served at table." 

From this time there is rapid degeneracy, the excess and 
debauchery of both men and women becoming offensively 
licentious and disgusting.* Seneca complains: " The weak 
and delicate complexion of the women is not changed, but 
their manners are no longer the same ; they value themselves 
on carrying excess of wine to as great a height as the most 
robust men ; like them they pass whole nights at table, and 
with a full glass of unmixed wine in their hands, they 
glory in vieing with them, and, if they can, in overcoming 
them." Drinking for wagers became frequent, and in 
order that men might in their competition for the prize, 
overfill themselves with wine, Pliny relates that some 
drank hemlock before going to their cups, that frightened 
by the thoughts of death, they might even force down wine 
as an antidote ; others after having filled their stomachs 
resorted to emetics, in order that the drinking might be 
renewed ; others betook them to the hot-baths, from which 
they were carried out half-dead ; and both sexes, without 
leaving the table, outraged all decency, by their beastly 
condition.f 

Caius Piso was famed for this latter indecency, it being 
said of him that he would set for two days and nights 
drinking without intermission, or even stirring from the ta- 

* Pliny. Natural History, Bk. xxxvi. chap. 21. 
f Ibid", Bk. iv. 28. 



Intemperance in Greece and Rome. 113 

ble. * Seemingly incredible stories are told of the capacity 
of some of these old topers, as for example, of Torquatus, 
who was knighted by Tiberius with the title of Tricongius, 
or the three-gallons knight, for drinking three gallons of 
wine at a draught, and without taking breath 5 and Tergilla, 
who boasted that he ordinarily drank two gallons at a 
draught ; and later the Emperor Maximin, who, it was said, 
could drink six gallons of wine without committing any 
debauch ! Although the Roman gallon (Congius) was 
little less than six pints, our measure, these amounts are 
simply enormous, and must, if admitted as at all real, 
necessitate the conclusion that the wines were much weak- 
er than those of the present day. It is known, indeed, that 
they were largely diluted, some with three, some five, seven, 
and even nine parts of water. 

But the outward physical results of such dissipation 
were the same as now, for Pliny describes their blotched 
skin, purple nose, bleared eyes, and their a sleep agita- 
ted by furies 5 " while they deprive their victim of rea- 
son, and " drive him to frenzy and the commission of a 
thousand crimes." Wine at last became so common, says 
the same authority, that it was even given to the beasts of 
burden. No wonder that he exclaimed, "By Hercules, 
pleasure has now begun to live, and life, so called, has 
ceased to be." f 

.Athenaeus confirms the foregoing account of dissipation 
in the description which he gives of a feast at a Roman 
mansion. From the pleasurable first excitement of the 
wine, hosts and guests pass to the most debased sottishness ; 
the slaves being compelled to participate, that they may 
be at no advantage over their masters, and at last, host, 
guests, men, women and slaves, mingle in the wildest riot 
and confusion. 

The feast of the Saturnalia, marked by all the folly and li- 
centiousness which intoxication produces, was extended from 



* Ibid, Bk. xiv. 22. t Ibid, Bk. iv. 28. 

8 



Alcohol in History. 

me day, its original limit, to three, and finally to seven days, 
by Caligula and Claudius. Wines were furnished at public 
expense, and under Vitellius, drunken feasts were held for 
three days on the battle-fields, while yet the dead lay un- 
buried. In the city itself, the people kept the same feast 
with riot and debauchery. " The whole city," says Taci- 
tus, " seemed to be inflamed with frantic rage, and at the 
same time intoxicated with drunken pleasures. * # * 
Thrice had Rome seen enraged armies under her walls, 
but the unnatural security and inhuman indifference that 
now prevailed, w r ere beyond all example. 77 * 

The same writer describes the surprise and capture of 
the city of Terracina, by the Roman troops under the com- 
mand of the Emperors brother, in eonsecpience of the in- 
temperance of the garrison, commanded by Julianus and 
Appolinaris, " two men immersed in sloth and luxury ; 
and by their vices, more like common gladiators than 
superior officers. 77 

"No sentinels stationed, no night watch, to prevent a sudden 
alarm, and no care taken to guard the works, they passed both 
night and day in drunken jollity. The windings of that delight- 
ful coast resounded with notes of joy, and the soldiers were 
spread about the country to provide for the pleasures of the 
two commanders, who never thought of war except when it be- 
came the subject of discourse over the bottle." t 

The Romans, under the advice of a renegade, surprised 
the city, slaughtered the drunken troops and put one of 
the commanders to death in a barbarous and ignominious 
manner. 

In modern Rome, intemperance still prevails, as it also 
does in other parts of Italy. E. C. Delavan, Esq., late of 
Albany, N. Y., visited Rome in 1839, from whence he 
wrote home that Cardinal Acton, the supreme judge of the 
city, assured him that nearly all the crime in Rome origi- 
nated in the use of wine. The Judge directed him to a 
part of the city, that w T ould compare well with the Five 

* Histories, B. iii. sect. 83. tlbid, sect. 76. 



Intemperance Among the Jews. 115 

Points in New York. "I visited that di strict " says Mr. 
Delavan, and there I saw men, women, and children sit- 
ting in rows, swilling away at wine, making np in quan- 
tity what was wanting in strength ; and such was the char- 
acter of the inmates of those dens that my guide urged my 
immediate departure, as I valued my life." 

The same year, Horatio Green ough, the American 
sculptor, wrote from Florence, " Many of the more think- 
ing and prudent Italians abstain from the use of wine ; 
several of the most eminent of the medical men are noto- 
riously opposed to its use, and declare it a poison. When 
I assure you that one-fifth, and sometimes one-fourth of 
the earnings of the laborers are expended in wine, you may 
form some idea as to its probable influence on their thrift 
and health." Hon. George P. Marsh, United States Min- 
ister to Italy, wrote from Rome to the Centennial Tem- 
perance Conference at Philadelphia, in 1876: 

"It is undoubtedly true in Italy, as in most other European 
countries, that a very considerable proportion of the crimes ac- 
companied with, violence, originate in intoxication, and the po- 
lice reports show a large and, I am sorry to say, an increasing 
number of such cases. The days of idleness, miscalled religious 
festivals, in Italy, are devoted by vast numbers of the lower 
classes to drinking, gambling, and other immoralities : and un- 
til public opinion shall become enlightened enough to suppress 
these occasions of vice, I should not expect much result from ef- 
forts of philanthropists in the way of temperance reform." 

VI. The Jews. — In giving attention to the fact of 
Intemperance among the Jewish people, as it is manifest 
in the Histories and Prophecies contained in the Old Tes- 
tament, the question in regard to the distinction between 
the intoxicating and unintoxicating wines mentioned in the 
Bible, need not here be considered, since its examination 
is reserved for another part of the work • and our imme- 
diate object is solely to set forth the fact that there was 
intemperance among the people to whom a special mission 
was assigned by Jehovah, and that its consequences were 



116 Alcohol in History. 

disastrous to thein, as they uniformly are to all other na- 
tions. 

The illustrations selected are not chronologically 
arranged, but given as they stand in the order in which 
the books comprising the Jewish Scriptures aie placed 
before us in our English Bibles. 

The account of the drunkenness and disgrace of Noah, 
as recorded in Genesis ix. 20-25, is the first mention of 
drunkenness in the Bible. Whether this was [Noah's first 
experience in producing and partaking of wine, or an in- 
dulgence common to him before the deluge, but now for 
the first time, either through ignorance or carelessness, an 
indulgence after fermentation had commenced ,* or a use 
of that which he knew would intoxicate ) — each of these 
theories or surmises having advocates among those who 
seek to interpret the account ; — we are not likely to know. 
In either case, it is evident that Noah thus fell into sin, 
and furnished an occasion for the sin of his son, and prob- 
ably of his grandson also ; and that in consequence of it 
a heritage of sorrow and bondage was the portion of the 
descendants of Ham in the line of Canaan. 

The description in Genesis xix. 32-38, of the incestuous 
conduct of Lot while senseless and unconscious under the 
influence of the intoxicating draught of the " wine," that 
" is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps/ 7 
is a fitting first-mention of the licentiousness which has 
been such a constant accompaniment of drunkenness. 
What retributive consequences were entailed on his sin we 
are not informed, as no further mention is made of him in 
the sacred record. W^e simply see him " saved indeed from 
the conflagration of Sodom, but an outcast, widowed, 
homeless, hopeless, without children or grandchildren, save 
the authors and the heirs of his shame." 

In Exodus xxxii. we have a sad account of the irreligion 
and licentiousness into which the children of Israel fell, on 
the occasion of the feast in which they indulged, w r hen, in 
the language of the record, they " sat dow 7 n to eat and to 



Intemperance Among the Jews. 117 

drink, and rose up to play." The significance of that de- 
scription being, that, inflamed with wine, they committed all 
sorts of sexual uncleanness.* This also is the sense of the 
word u naked/' in the 25th verse.t As the immediate con- 
sequence swift death came upon thousands, and the entire 
nation were discomfitted and distressed by the lengthening 
out of their wanderings in the wilderness. 

Leviticus x. 1-11 gives an account of the sin of Nadab 
and Abihu, committed while they ministered at the altar j 
and of a command imposed by Jehovah immediately after, 
and probably on account of that sin. The offence con- 
sisted in the offering of an incense kindled by " strange 
fire," and the incitement to the offence seems to be more 
than implied in the command to Aaron : "Do not drink 
wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, 
when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye 
die 5 it shall be a statute forever throughout your genera- 
tions. That ye may put difference between holy and un- 
holy, and between clean and unclean." It is the general 
opinion of the Jewish Commentators that the inebriation of 
Nadab and Abihu caused them to use the " strange fire ; " 
and in this agree many eminent Christian critics. $ 

In the time of the Judges, drunkenness seems to have 
become so common a vice in Israel as to have involved 
even the women of the nation in its shame. In 1 Samuel, 
i. 14, Hannah is unjustly accused by Eli, because in her 
prayers no words issue from her moving lips, of being 
" drunken." No surprise is expressed by this rebuke, that 
she should presume to present herself in the temple of 
Jehovah in this plight, for Hannah's answer intimates that 
such women did frequent that place, and the statement in 

* It is the same word as is rendered "mock" in the false 
charge made by Potiphar's wife against Joseph, when she ac- 
cused him of a licentious attempt. Genesis xxxix. 14-17. 

f See " The Speaker's Commentary," in loco. 

J See Prof. Geo. Bush's Commentary on Leviticus x. 9: also 
" the Speaker's Commentary," on vs. 1, same chapter. 



118 Alcohol in History. 

the 22nd verse of the second chapter, shows that even lewd 
women were permitted there ; and that these u daughters of 
Belial " had for their associates the sons of the Judge and 
High Priest Eli, who were so debauched as to be called the 
" Sons of Belial." Their intemperate habits not only in- 
volved them in licentiousness, and so incurred severe judg- 
ments on themselves, but also made them so negligent of 
their duties as custodians of the Ark of the Covenant, as 
to suffer the populace to take it from their keeping, to carry 
it, as a battle-flag, into their fight with the Philistines, by 
•whom it was captured, and in consequence the hand of 
Jehovah lay heavy on the nation. 

When, under the strong rule of Saul, and the wise gov- 
ernment of David, the nation regained its position and also 
the divine favor, drunkenness soon worked mischief in the 
royal household, and in producing discord and rebellion. 
Amnon cruelly ruined his half-sister. Her brother, Absa- 
lom, nursed vengeance in his heart, and on the first favor- 
able opportunity had Amnon made drunk with wine and 
slew him : 2 Samuel xiii. Then came alienation, rebel- 
lion, and distress. No wonder that David employed the 
severest terms in reprobating the use of wine, and that, 
when endeavoring to set forth the most expressive idea of 
the judgments of the Almighty, he makes choice of the figure 
of an inebriating cup in the hand of Jehovah, w T hich, as he 
pours it out upon the nations, spreads terror and desolation 
wherever its falls : 

" In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; 
it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same ; but the 
dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, 
and drink them." Psalm lxxv. 8. 

Solomon, out of a deeper and more varied experience 
even than that of David, wise above all others while serv- 
ing and obeying God, and the most besotted of all fools in 
his idolatry, luxury and licentiousness, tells us, after his 
vain " seeking in his heart to give himself to wine," what 
are the characteristics of the deceptive draught, and what 



Intemperance Among the Jews. 119 

consequences fatal to prosperity, happiness, and moral pur- 
ity, follow its use : 

" Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging : and whosoever is 
deceived thereby is not wise." " Who," he exclaims, " Who 
hath woe ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contentions ? who hath 
babbling ? who hath wounds without cause ? Who hath redness 
of eyes ? They that tarry long at the wine ; they that go to seek 
mixed wine." 

Then he lifts up his voice in warning, shows how the 
momentary gratification of drinking is followed by the 
most sorrowful and bitter results ; how passion is given the 
mastery, God driven from the heart, life is put in fearful 
peril, and the power of the will so benumbed that still 
again and again the victim of drink rushes on to his indul- 
gence and incurs repeated loss, misery and pollution : 

" Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth 
his color in the cup, * when it moveth itself aright. At the 
last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine 
eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter 
perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the 
midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick ; they 
have beaten me, and I felt it not ; when shall I awake ? I will 
seek it yet again." 

The advice given to Lemuel, was it not based on what 
Solomon had found true in his own experience ? "It 
is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink 
wine ; nor for princes strong drink : lest they drink and 
forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the 
afflicted." Proverbs xx. 1 5 xxiii. 29-35 ; xxxi. 4. Elah, 
one of the kings of Israel, became the victim of a conspir- 
acy, and w T as slain by the " captain of half his chariots/* 
while " drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, 
steward of his house in Tirzah." 1 Kings xvi. 9. 

* " When it giveth his color. Literally, ' its eye/ the clear 
brightness, or the beaded bubbles on which the wine drinker 
looks with complacency." — The Speaker's Commentary. Prov. 
xxiii. 31. 



120 Alcohol in History. 

These pernicious personal examples of priests, princes 
and Kings, and other mighty and so-called noble men, 
could not fail to hear their fruit in infecting the nation at 
largo with this fearful evil. Isaiah, who flourished just 
before the Babylonian Captivity, describes in terse and 
vigorous words the immoral condition of the masses, and 
ascribes their predicted ruin to their intemperate habits : 

u Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they 
may follow strong drink ; that continue until night till wine in- 
flame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, 
and wine, are in their feasts : but they regard not the work of 
the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. There- 
fore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no 
knowledge : and their honorable men are famished, and their 
multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged 
herself, and opened her mouth without measure : and their 
glory and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoic- 
eth, shall descend into it." " AVoe unto them that are mighty to 
drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink ; which 
justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness 
of the righteous from him ! Therefore as the fire devoureth the 
stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall 
be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust : because 
they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised 
the word of the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah v. 11-13 : 22-24. 

In equally severe terms does the same prophet an- 
nounce the divine judgment on the people for their dis- 
obedience to the command of Jehovah, that during the 
seige of the city by the Persians, they shall humble them- 
selves before Him, and by penitence obtain His favor and 
help ; instead of which they become so lost to a sense of 
their obligations to God as to mock Him by feasting, 
drinking and riot : 

"In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and 
to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth : and 
behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheer), eating 
flesh, and drinking wine : let us eat and drink ; for to-morrow 
wo shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of 
Hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye 
die, Baith the Lord God of Hosts." Chapter xxii. 12-14. 



Intemperance Among the Jetcs. 121 

So also when Isaiah denounces woe npon Samaria, it is 
because of intoxication, taught and encouraged by the un- 
faithful priests and prophets : 

u Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, 
whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head 
of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine ! Behold, 
the Lord hath a mighty and strong oue, which as a tempest of 
hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters over- 
flowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown 
of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet. 
***** They have erred through wine, and through 
strong drink are out of the way ; the priest and the prophet have 
erred through strong drink ; they err in vision, they stumble in 
judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filth in ess, so that 
there is no place clean." Chap, xxviii. 1-8. 

And once more, speaking of the general demoralization 
of the people, its cause is said to be the unfaithfulness of 
the besotted who are placed in power, who, under the fig- 
ure of a blind and dumb watchman, and a stupid and fool- 
ish shepherd, invited, instead of preventing the encroach- 
ments of the devouring beasts : 

" All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts 
in the forest. His watchmen are blind : they are all ignorant, 
they are all dumb dogs that cannot bark ; sleeping, lying down, 
loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never 
have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: 
they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, for his 
quarter : Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine and we will fill 
ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this 
day and much more abundant."— lvi. 9-12. 

In the days of Hosea, complaint is made that Israel 
u looks to other gods, and loves flagons of wine ; Hosea 
iii. 1 -j and in vii. 7, that the princes have debauched the 
king by catering to his lowest passions, and so have un- 
fitted him to rule in righteousness : u In the days of our 
king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine j * 
he stretched out his hand with scorn ers." 

* u Bottles of wine." — Literally, " poison of wine." The 
same word that is translated " poison," in Dent, xxxii. 33. 



122 Alcohol in History. 

In the woes denounced on the people, by Joel, i. 5, the 
class doubtless esteemed by him the most guilty is thus ad- 
dressed: " Awake ye drunkards and weep; howl all ye 
drinkers of wine." 

Among the evils of which Amos complains, ii. 6-12, are 
these, that the tribe of Juclah frequent the heathen ban- 
quets, drink their strong wines, and compel the Nazarites 
to break their pledge of total abstinence. 

"They lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by 
every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the 
house of their God. * * * * And I raised up your sons for 
prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even 
thus, O ye children of Israel ? saith the Lord. But ye gave the 
Naza rites wine to drink ; and commanded the prophets, saying, 
Prophesy not." 

So in the sixth verse of the sixth chapter, " drinking 
w T ine in bowls," is among the offences charged against those 
W T ho " are at ease in Zion." 

By the prophet Micah, it is declared, ii. 11, that the 
people have become so corrupt that true prophets were re- 
jected, and only those received who encouraged them in 
their dissipation : " If a man walking in the spirit and 
falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine 
and of strong drink ; he shall even be the prophet of this 
people." 

Habakkuk, foretelling the ruin of Judea by the Chal- 
deans, assigns as a reason because Nebuchadnezzar, the 
king, " transgresseth by wine;" and he denounces woe 
upon him who, having made some of the people drunken, 
is thereby able to discover the extreme weakness of the 
Jewish nation, and so to encourage the warfare that results 
in its overthrow : "Woe unto him that giveth his neigh- 
bor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him 
drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness." 
ii. 5, 15. ... 

VII. Contemporary Natioxs. — Special mention has 
been made of the Egyptians and the Persians, in anoth- 



Intemperance among Contemporary Nations. 123 

er place. A brief mention of the facts indicating the 
prevalence of intemperance among* other heathen nations 
with whom the Jews were brought in contact, will be given 
here. 

The Philistines, who had conquered and oppressed 
Israel, after several ineffectual attempts to capture Samson, 
whom God raised up to begin the work of the deliverance of 
his nation, at last succeeded ; and when Samson had in a 
measure regained his strength, of which at the time of his 
capture he had been deprived, the Philistines, at " a great 
sacrifice unto Dagon their god," made themselves drunken 
with wine, and had Samson brought out of his prison-house 
for their diversion. Judges xvi. 25. " They brought him 
to their feast," say Josephus, " that they might insult him . 
in their cups." * 

The Amalekites, who had u smitten Ziklag, and burnt it 
with fire," and " had taken great spoil," were pursued by 
David, who found them in such a drunken and riotous con- 
dition that they were scattered far and wide, and so fell an 
easy prey to his avenging army. 1 Samuel xxx. 16. 

The Syrians, under Benhadad, besieged Samaria, and 
made demand for the immediate surrender of its inhabitants 
and all their treasure. They came with a great army, far 
outnumbering the besieged. Ahab, under direction of the 
prophet, went out of the city to give them battle, and "slew 
the Syrians with a great slaughter." The reason of their 
success against such great odds, was, that " Benhadad was 
drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, 
the thirty and two kings that helped him." 1 Kings xx. 
16. 

The Babylonians were inordinate drinkers. In Daniel 
v. w r e have an account of a feast made by Belshazzar the 
king, during which the sacred vessels taken from the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem were brought in for the use of "the king, 
his princes, his wives, and his coucubines, that they might 

- mm 

* Antiquities. Book v. c. 8. 



124 Alcohol in History. 

drink therein." And while the y thus " drank wine," the 
handwriting on the wall appeared. During the night, 
Cyrus and the Persian troops entered the city, and " in 
that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain." 
The deep-seated determination of this people to gratify 
their basest passions, and possess to themselves at any cost, 
of the intoxicating cup, is set forth in horrid detail by the 
prophet Joel, iii. 3 : " They have given a boy for a harlot, 
and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink." 

In the Apocryphal Book of Esdras, the following is at- 
tributed to one of the body-guard of Darius, king of the 
Medes and Persians : 

" O ye men, how exceeding strong is wine ! it causeth all men 
to err that drink it : it maketh the mind of the king, and of the 
fatherless child, to be all one : of the bondman and of the free- 
man, of the poor man and of the rich : it turneth also every 
thought into jollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth 
neither sorrow nor debt : and it maketh every heart rich, so that 
a man remembereth neither king nor governor ,* and it maketh to 
speak all things by talents ; and when they are in their cups, 
they forget their love both to friends and brethren, and a little 
after draw out swords : but when they are from the wine, they 
remember not what they have done.' 7 Book I. c. iii. vs. 18-23. 

This language, spoken and recorded before the time of 
Christ, although it is not possible to fix on the precise date, 
can hardly be improved upon in any description of the ef- 
fects of intoxicants that might be attempted now, so inva- 
riable is the bewilderment, self-deception, oblivion of all 
true relationships, standing and duties, the treachery to 
friends, and violence even unto death, as are accompani- 
ments of drunkenness in all periods of its history. 

VIII. Gehmaxy. — For our earliest information of the 
Germans, we are indebted to Roman writers, Pliny and Ta- 
citus. They bring them to our notice as they appeared about 
the time of the commencement of our Christian era. From, 
the first we find them noted for their indulgence in strong* 
drink, a habit so firmly fixed, that it overcame their vigor 



Intemperance in Germany. 12 o 

and enterprise, and their natural adaptation for successful 
offensive or defensive warfare, much more effectually than 
could the assaults of any enemy in arms. 

" The liquor commonly drunk by them," says Tacitus, "is 
prepared from barley or wheat ; which, being fermented, is 
brought somewhat to resemble wine. Those who reside on the 
banks of the Ehine use wine itself. Their diet is simple — wild 
fruits, fresh venison, and curdled milk. They satisfy their ap- 
petite without deserts or splendid appendages. The same ab- 
stinence is not observed with regard to the bottle ; for if you 
will indulge them in drunkenness to the extent of their desires, 
you may as effectually conquer them by this vice, as with 
arms." * 

Pliny says : " The Western nations produced their inebriating 
liquors from steeped grain. Moreover, those liquors are made 
use of most, and not diluted as is the custom with wine. Her- 
cules seemed only to produce fruit from the earth ; whilst, alas! 
the wonderful shrewdness of our vices has shown us in what 
manner even water may be made to administer to them." t 

Tacitus, speaking of their custom of keeping their "beds 
till late in the morning, says, that after bathing and having 
their breakfast — 

11 They, being armed, proceed to business; but as often to 
parties of conviviality, where they spend whole days and nights 
in drinking, without any disgrace being attached to it. At 
these feasts, when the guests are intoxicated, frequent quarrels 
arise, which terminate not only in abuse, but in blood. The 
subjects of debate at these feasts are the reconcilement of ene- 
mies, forming family-alliances, the election of chiefs, and lastly, 
peace and war. The German thinks the soul is never more open 
to sincerity, nor the heart more alive to deeds of heroism, than 
under the influence of the bottle ; for then, being naturally free 
from artifice and disguise, they open the inmost recesses of their 
minds ; and the opinions which are thus broached they again 
canvass the next day. There is safety and reason attached to 
both modes ; for they consult when they are not well able to dis- 
semble, and debate when they are not likely to err." | 

It is related by the same author, in his u Historical 

* Tacitus on Germany, xxiii. t Natural History, B. xiv. 22. 
t On Germany, xxii. 



126 Alcohol in History. 

Annals," * that on the occasion of a war between the Romans 
and the Marsians, a German tribe, a notable victory was 
gained by the former, under Germanicus, one of their fa- 
mous generals, on account of the intemperance of the 
latter. " The scouts brought intelligence that the approach- 
ing night was a festival, to be celebrated by the barbarians 
with joy and revelry." The advancing army surrounded 
their foes on every side. 

" The barbarians were sunk in sleep and wine, some stretched 
on the beds, others at full length under the tables ; all in full 
security, without a guard, without x^osts, and without a senti- 
nel on duty. No appearance of war was seen ; nor could that 
be called a peace, which was only the effect of savage riot, the 
languor of a debauch. Germanicus, to spread the slaughter as 
wide as possible, divided his men into four battalions. The 
country, fifty miles round, was laid waste with fire and sword ; 
no compassion for sex or age ; no distinction of places, holy or 
profane ; nothing was sacred. In the general ruin the Temple 
of Tanfau, which was held by the inhabitants in the highest 
veneration, was levelled to the ground. Dreadful as the 
slaughter was, it did not cost a drop of Roman blood. Not so 
much as a wound was received. The attack was made on the 
barbarians sunk in sleep, dispersed in flight, unarmed, and in- 
capable of resistance." 

Mead was also a favorite drink among the ancient Ger- 
mans, and according to Henderson, it was customary to 
drink it for thirty days after a marriage, t Hence, proba- 
bly the familiar expression, the Honey-moon. Cider seems 
also to have been known, as Tatian, a writer of the second 
century, makes frequent allusion to it as a common drink. 

Early in the history of the nation, all classes, and both 
sexes often drank to great excess, until so alarming was the 
evil that measures were resorted to as early as the eighth 
century, which will be more particularly mentioned further 
on, to interpose the arm of legal authority against the vice. 

The author of the article on Germany, in the American 

* Book I. Sections 50, 51. 

f History of Inebriating Liquors, p. 466. 



Intemperance in Germany. 127 

Encyclopaedia, remarks that u Popular movements in favor 
of liberty in Germany have often been defeated by the ex- 
cessive drinking of the people." 

A popular song of the Middle Ages, as sung by the 
students, according to the Jus Potandi, — drinking code 
quoted by Samuelson, in his History of Drink, * gives an 
alarming picture of the extent of drunkenness at that 
period : 

" Bibit her a, bibit herns, 
Bibit miles, bibit clems, 
Bibit ille, bibit ilia, 
Bibit servus cum ancilla, 
Bibit velox, bibit piger, 
Bibit albus, bibit niger, 
Bibit constans, bibit vagus, 
Bibit rudis, bibit nagus. 

Bibit pauper et a?grotus, 
Bibit excul et ignotus, 
Bibit pner, bibit canus, 
Bibit praesul et decanus, 
Bibit soror, bibit frater, 
Bibit anus, bibit mater, 
Bibit iste, bibit ille, 
Bibit centum, bibit miile." 

Further quotations from the same curious works, — 
which, whether a genuine collection of rules really enforced, 
or only a satire on the besotted condition of the people, is 
unknown, and perhaps is of no consequence, since in either 

* Samuelson, p. 107: " A literal rendering of the above, with- 
out any attempt at versification, is : The mistress drinks, the 
master drinks, the soldier drinks, the clergy drinks, the man 
drinks, the woman drinks, the man-servant together vrith the 
maid servant drinks, the active drinks, the lazy drinks, the 
white drinks, the black drinks, the constant drinks, the fickle 
drinks, the learned drinks, the boor drinks, the poor and sick 
drink, the exile and stranger drmk, the young and old drink, the 
dancer and dean drink, the sister and brother drink, the wife 
and mother drink, this one drinks, that one drinks, hundreds 
drink, thousands drink." 



128 Alcohol in History. 

case it reveals in lively coloring what is no doubt true of 
the age in which it was written ; — reveals the fact that men 
not only boasted to their neighbors how well they had 
succeeded in making all their guests drink the night before, 
and how long some had shown themselves tougher headed 
than the others, but even that fathers made it part of their 
special care and boast to train their lads to drink. " Now 
let us see/ 7 said the fond parent to his little son, " let us see 
what you can do. Bring him a half-measure ) " and later 
on, " Bring him a measure. 77 

Hans Sachs, " the national poet/ 7 is also quoted by Mr. 
Samuelson, as giving "an account of a drunken tournament 
which he had witnessed, where twelve i beer heroes 7 succeed- 
ed in drinking from ? pots and cans ? a tun of beer in six 
hours ! 77 

After the drinking-code was established and accepted, 
" there was/ 7 we are told, " no promiscuous hobnobbing, 
and caste was duly respected then as now. 

"Nobles were not permitted to drink with tradespeople, but 
they might raise their glass to a student, and he in like manner 
might condescend to notice a tradesman, for there was no know- 
ing of what advantage snch a recognition might be to a studento 
A case is cited were a merchant (pedlar, we presume,) actually 
gave a poor i studiosus ' a pair of beautiful silk stockings the 
morning after a carouse,- for which he had expressed a longing 
during the entertainment. Young maidens were permitted to 
drink platonically with virtuous young men, but they are 
warned in droll and not very modest terms against 'pseudo- 
prophetes/ who are i lupi rap aces ' in sheep's clothing, and the 
evils of drinking ' sisterhood ? with such ravening wolves are 
duly and circumstantially set forth in the code. One clause is 
devoted specially to the expressions in vogue amongst ladies, 
who may find it necessary, whilst at table, to protect them- 
selves against the too gross familiarity of their gallant neigh- 
bors. 

* Disraeli, in his " Curiosities of Literature," Part I. p. 198, is 
authority for saying that, "According to Blount's Glossographia, 
carouse is a corruption of two old German words, gar signify- 
ing all, and audz, out : so that to drink garauz is to drink all 
out : hence carouse 



Intemperance in Germany, 129 

" As a rule, guests might not pledge persons who were pre- 
sent, unless it were a-sweetheart, and that toast must be drunk 
* ad tinguem 9 — that is to say, in a bumper — the drinkers after- 
wards reversing their goblets and ringing them on their thumb- 
nail, to show that not a drop was left therein. This has been a 
common drinking custom in several countries. Toasts were 
drunk in various ways ; sometimes one man drank from two 
glasses at once ; at others, when virtuous young ladies sat by 
the side of respectable young men, they were allowed to drink 
simultaneously from the same goblet ; and it was deplored that 
such a mode of drinking could not become more general, on ac- 
count of the wild behavior of the youth of the x^eriod. Reg- 
ular penalties were inflicted for sneezing and coughing into the 
goblets, and for certain other offences against decency and pro- 
priety, which, although they seem to have been everyday oc- 
currences at those carousals, are unfit to be spoken of in genteel 
society. When new-comers arrived, the goblet was offered to 
them, with sundry compliments and orations, and to refuse to 
drink was a mortal offence, usually followed by a bloody en- 
counter. When a guest found it difficult to keep pace with the 
company, or could not empty his goblet at a draught, he might 
avail himself of the aid of any young lady who sat by his side, 
but old ladies were not allowed to render assistance under such 
circumstances, for they were too fond of their liquor them- 
selves. 

" When r^en became riotous, gentle means were first to be 
employed to quiet them ; if they still persisted, warnings . fol- 
lowed ; and should they then remain contumacious, they were 
to be well thrashed and sent home 'as cheaply as possible.' 
Table and window breaking were severely punished, and cer- 
tain acts of indecency, if practised before ladies, were to be re- 
sented by seizing the offender and pitching him neck-and-crop 
into the street. 

" Should the reader be desirous of studying this remarkable 
code (whatever view he may take of its authenticity as a seri- 
ous production,) he will rind it composed in mediaeval German, 
interspersed with Latin and Greek phrases, as though it had 
been collated by some learned ecclesiastic, which is more than 
probable — that is to say, by some drunken hanger-on at a 
monastery ; and he will see how the German youth of by-gone 
days studied as 'vim ct cerevisire candidatus,' and eventually 
graduated in the courts of Bacchus. But if he imagines that 
the picture is overdrawn, we should recommend him to con- 
sult the historical records, and he will rind that no ""an- 
guage can adequately portray the state of morals in 3i 
9 / 



130 Alcohol in History. 

many in those days, at least so far as drunkenness was 
concerned." * 

Aug. de Thou, in his Memoirs, liv. 11, describes scenes 
which he himself witnessed. 

"There is. before Mulhausen, a large place or square, where, 
during the f\ir, assemble a prodigious number of people of both 
sexes, and of all ages ; there one may see wives supporting their 
husbands, daughters theirtfathers, tottering upon their horses 
or asses, a true image of a Bacchanal. The public houses are 
full of drinkers, where the young women who wait, pour wine 
into goblets, out of a large bottle with a long neck, without 
spilling a drop. They press you to drink, with pleasantries the 
most agreeable in the world. People drink here continually, 
and return, at all hours, to do the same thing over again." 

Quite as strong- is the testimony of De Kohan in his 
Voyages, published in 1646 : 

"I am well satisfied that the mathematicians of our time, can 
nowhere rind out the perpetual motion, so well as here, where 
the goblets of the Germans are an evident demonstration of its 
possibility. They think that they cannot make good cheer, nor 
permit friendship or fraternity, as they call it, with any, with- 
out giving the glass brimful of wine, to seal it for perpetaity." 
p. 27. 

Thackeray, in his Lectures on the Four Georges, t says of 
life among the German gentry in 1600 : 

" Every morning at seven, the squires shall have their morn- 
ing soup, along with which, and dinner, they shall be served 
with their under-drink — every morning, except Friday morning, 
when there was sermon, and no drink. Every evening they 
shall have their beer, and at night their sleep-drink. " 

All accounts unequivocally agree that both the higher 
and the lower classes, the religious and the indifferent alike, 
w T ere debauched by drink. The excesses and cruelties re- 
sulting therefrom in the so-called noble families, were 
beastly and fiendish, and worse than all were gloried in, 
and their remembrance paraded and perpetuated by means 

* The History of Drink. By James Samuelson, pp. 107, 111. 
f Lecture I. 



Intemperance in Germany. 131 

of family records kept and handed down from generation to 
generation 5 not only of tlie exploits of the men but also of 
the women, in their almost constant indulgences. The 
most acceptable gift which one could bestow on another, 
was a large and handsome shaped gold drinking cup or 
goblet, which was supposed to be greatly enriched in pro- 
portion as it was covered with accounts of the drinking 
exploits of its owner. Almost every event in life, from 
birth to death, was celebrated by drinking, and bargains of 
whatever kind were concluded over the cup, a stipulated 
amount for the supply of which, formed part of the most 
trifling contract. The Pope's representative at the Court of 
Frederick III., wrote home to his master, —"Living here is 
naught but drinking. 77 Wine was so cheap that it became 
a proverb : 

" In fifteen hundred and thirty-nine, 
The casks were valued at more than the wine." 

" At the beginning of this century," says Keysler, u Germany 
saw three empty wine casks, from the construction of which no 
great honor could redound to our country among foreigners. 
The first is that of Tubingen ; the second that of Heidelberg ; and 
the third, at Gruningen, near Halberstadt; and their dimen- 
sions are not greatly different : the Tubingen cask is in length 
24, in depth 16 feet ; that of Heidelberg, 31 feet in length, and 
21 deep ; and that of Gruningen, 30 feet long, and 18 deep. 
These enormous vessels were sufficient to create in foreigners a 
suspicion of our degeneracy ; but to complete the disgrace of 
Germany, in the year 1725, a fourth was made at Konigstein, 
larger than any of the former." * 

Unfortunately, in tracing out the causes or occasions for 
this extensive demand for wine, we are forced to place the 
responsibility for it, in a large measure, on those who under 
Charlemagne established what they thought were the insti- 
tutions of the Christian church in Germany. The founding 
of the monastery was supposed to require the use of wine 
in the celebration of Mass, and so necessitated the planting 

* Travels, vol. I. p. 97. 



132 Alcohol in History. 

of vines to supply that demand. Soon the desire for more 
wine to please the palate, brought a large portion of the 
grounds connected with the religious houses under cultiva- 
tion, until at last the long famous vineyards have been 
those planted by the monks. 

Bridgett * quotes from a sermon preached by Rabamus 
Maurus in the beriiminff of the ninth century. 

" There are some vices, dearest brethren, which, though very 
great, yet in our days to some appear so small, that they reckon 
them either the least of evils or no evils at all. They have so 
spread by the abuse of men that instead of being blamed as 
crimes and sins, they are praised as if they were virtues. 

* * * * Among these vices feasting and drunkenness es- 
pecially reign, since not only the rude and vulgar people, but 
the noble and powerful of the land, are given up to them. 
Both sexes and all ages have made intemperance into a custom. 

* * * And so greatly has this plague spread that it has in- 
fected some of our own order in the priesthood, so that not only 
they do not correct the drunkards, but become drunkards them- 
selves. Oh ! what wickedness is this, brethren, what bitter evil 
is this, which does not leave unhurt even rulers and dignities, 
nntil virtues are spoken ill of, and vices extolled ? * * * * 
Tell me, you who praise feasting and drunkenness, whether it is 
a good thing or an evil, to extinguish the light of the mind by 
excess, to disturb the reason, to obscure the sight, to lose speech 
and the use of the limbs, and to become like a madman or one 
possessed ? Did God make man thus ? Is this the glory of 
God's image, of which it is written : ' God made man in His own 
likeness ? 7 What an intolerable blasphemy would it be to assert 
such a thing, when God is supremely good and alone blessed and 
powerful, the King of kings and Lord of lords. ' He saw all 
things that He had made, and behold they were very good.' 
Hence drunkenness was not made by hira." 

" In the monastery of St. Gall, during the tenth century, each 
monk received daily five measures of beer, besides occasional 
allowances of wine, which were consumed at breakfast, dinner, 
and supper ; and healths were often pledged by the abbots." f 

"When the Pope reproved the German priesthood for their 

* The Discipline of Drink. By the Rev. T. E. Bridgett, C. S. 
S. R. pp. 49, 50. 

f Eckehardus, Jun., quoted by Samuelson, p. 114. 



Intemperance in Germany. 133 

luxurious habits, they uproariously returned for answer: 'We 
have no more wine than is needed for the Mass ; and not enough 
to turn our mills with ! ' n 

Good living, as it was erroneously called, was certainly, 
at one time, an universal observance in Germany, when the 
sole wish of man was, that he might have short sermons and 
long puddings. When this wish prevailed, every dining- 
room had its faulbett , or sot's couch, in one corner, for the 
accommodation of the first couple of guests who might 
chance to be too drunk to be removed- Indeed, in German 
village inns, the most drunken guests were, in former days, 
by far the best off : for, while they had the beds allotted 
them, as standing in most need of the same, the guests of 
every degree, whether rich or poor, the perfectly sober, 
wherever such phenomena were to be found, and those not 
so intoxicated but they could stagger out of the room, all 
lodged with the cows among the straw. Probably, no 
country on the earth presented such scenes, arising from 
excessive drinking, as were witnessed in Saxony and Bohe- 
mia, a few generations back. These scenes were so com- 
monly attended by murder, or followed by death, that it 
was said to be better for a man to fall anions the thickest of 
his enemies fighting, than among his friends when drinking. 
There were deadly brawls in taverns, deadly feuds in the 
family circle, and not less deadly contentions in the 
streets. * * # This is no overdrawn picture of an 
ancient German period. 

"It is on record that once, on the hanks of the Bohemian Saz- 
awa, a party of husbandmen met for the purpose of drinking 
twelve casks of wine. There were ten of them who addressed 
themselves to this feat ; hut one of the ten, attempting to retire 
from the contest hefore any of his fellows, the remaining nine 
seized, hound him, and roasted him alive on a spit. The mur- 
derers were subsequently carried to the palace for judgment ; 
hut the Duke's funeral was taking place as they entered the 
hall, and the Princes who administered justice were all so intox- 
icated, that they looked upon the matter in the light of a joke 
that might he compensated for by a slight fine. There was a 
joyous revelry at that time in every direction, A father would 



134 Alcohol in History. 

not receive a man for a son-in-law who conld not drink ; and in 
universities the conferring of a degree was always followed by 
a carouse, the length of which was fixed, by College rules, as 
not to exceed eight hours' duration." * 

The following, from the same author, given as an extract 
from a sermon by the Bishop of Triers or Treves, will show 
how religious teachers became debauched, and so corrupt- 
ers of their people, by wine : 

" Brethren, to whom the high • privilege of repentance and 
penance has been conceded, you feel the sin of abusing the gifts 
of Providence. But, dbusum non tollit usum. It is written, 
' Wine ruaketk glad the heart of man/ It follows, then, that to 
use wine moderately is our duty. Now there is, doubtless, none 
of my male hearers who cannot drink his four bottles without 
affecting his brain. Let him, however, — if by the fifth or sixth 
bottle he no longer knoweth his own wife,— if he beat and kick 
his children, and look on his dearest friend as an enemy,- re- 
frain from an excess displeasing* to God and man, and which 
renders him contemptible in the eyes of his fellows. But who- 
ever, after drinking his ten or twelve bottles, retains his senses 
sufficiently to support his tottering neighbor, or manage his 
household affairs, or execute the commands of his temporal and 
spiritual superiors, let him take his share quietly, and be thank- 
ful for his talent. Still, let him be cautious how he exceed this ; 
for man is weak, and his powers limited. It is but seldom that 
our kind Creator extends to any one the grace to be able to 
drink safely sixteen bottles, of which privilege he hath held mc* r 
the meanest of his servants, worthy. And since no man can say 
of me that I ever broke out in causeless rage, or failed to recog- 
nize my household friends or relations, or neglected the perform- 
ance of my spiritual duties, I may, with thankfulness and a 
good conscience, use the gift which hath been intrusted to me. 
And you, my pious hearers, each take modestly your allotted 
portion ; and to avoid all excess, follow the precept of St, Peter, 
— 'Try all, and stick to the best.'" t 

A story is told of a German Bishop, named Defoucris, 
that, being exceedingly fond of wine, it was his custom in 
travelling to send his valet forward a post, with instructions 

* Table Traits, with Something on Them. By Dr. Doran, pp. 
263-265. 

t Ibid, p. 202, 



Intemperance in Germany. 135 

that he should taste the wine at every place where he stop- 
ped, and write under the " bush/ 7 (a hunch of evergreens 
hang up over the entrance of houses in Italy where wine 
was sold,) the word "est," if it was tolerable, and " est, 
est/ 7 if it w T as very good j but where it was indifferent, he 
should not write anything. The valet arrived at Monte 
Fiascone, and so much admired the wine that he wrote up 
" est, est." The bishop soon followed, found the wine so 
palatable that he got drunk, and repeating the experiment 
too often, drank himself dead. His valet thereupon wrote 
his epitaph, as follows : 

" i Est, est/ propter nimimum 'est/ 
Dominus meus, mortuus ' est.' " 

Which may be rendered : 

"Tis, 'tis/ from too much °tis/ 
My master dead ' is. ? 

A sadly blasphemous custom of mixing sacred things 
with the most profane prevails to this day in Germany; as 
Mrs. Trollope mentions having seen over the door of a 
brewery in the city of Bruges ; a group in alto-relievo, re- 
presenting the whole process of brewing ; several figures 
are employed in mashing, cooling, and putting the beer in- 
to casks, while winged seraphs are seen tasting the liquid, 
and the Blessed Virgin and her infant are admiringly look- 
ing on ! * 

From time to time, owing, as we shall see in another 
chapter, to religious efforts and also to civil enactments, 
temperance checks have been placed on the downward 
tendency of such indulgence in w T ine and beer, but the gen- 
eral drift, is here as everywhere else where wine and beer are 
used, to the demand for more potent liquors. Morewood, an 
English Surveyor of Excise, and writing in the interest of 
the liquor trade in England, and so above suspicion of being 
prejudiced by any Temperance notions, says: u In Germany, 

* Belgium and Western Germany, Vol. I. p. 28. 



136 Alcohol in History. 

of late years, distilleries have increased, while breweries 
have decreased in the same ratio. ?; * 

Student life in Germany is still beset by drunkenness 
from beer drinking. " An American Student " who has 
recently concluded a course of study at Leipzig, writes the 
following : 

u When the student has made his examination, after his hard 
pull of the last six months, hilarity reigns supreme. He gives 
drinking feasts first to all his acquaintances, and last to his 
most intimate friends. Wild is the sport, and no one unless he 
is a cynic leaves the hall of friendship in a presentable condi- 
tion. The German student is by no means modest in his beer. 
The most quiet and sedate speak openly of being slightly intox- 
icated, as if it were, as it is here, a mere matter of course ; but 
at an entertainment consequent on having made his degree, he 
is indeed a cold friend who does not complain on the morrow of 
excessive feline combats in the regions of the brain. It is more 
than probable that coming from the scene of festivity, a desire 
to sing on the street occurs. No police is more strict than the 
German, and semi-wild singing on the street brings down the 
entire police force. The students are brought to the police sta- 
tion, the college beadle conducts them politely to the college 
prison, where they remain a few days living on the fat of the 
land, and seeing their friends whenever they wish; only one 
however being allowed admission at one time." f 

Rev. William F. Warren, D. D., now President of Bos- 
ton University, testified before a committee of the Legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts, in 1867, that he spent eight years in 
Europe, for the most part in Germany. 

" The result of my observation was, that there was double 
the amount of drinking and of drunkenness among the students 
that there is among the same class in this country. As regards 
the people, I can only say that during the last five years, 
drunken people have gone past my house, I suppose, every even- 
ing, sometimes boisterously drunk and sometimes reelingly 
drunk. In a street but a few rods from where I lived, there 
were brawls almost every Sunday afternoon." X 



* Essay on Inebriating Liquors, p. 459. 

t Universalist Quarterly, July, 1878, p. 356. 

X Eeport and Testimony, 1867, p. 807. 



Intemperance in Russia. 137 

In an account given by Rev. William Reid,* of the 
u German Protestant Conference for Inner Missions, at 
Bremen, Sept. 16, 1852," are quite copious extracts from a 
Paper by Dr. Wald, on the Progress of Intemperance in 
Germany, to the effect that the use of Brantivein, (the gen- 
eral name for distilled liquors,) had increased nine-fold in 
thirty-five years,- and in consequence, prisons and lunatic 
asylums were being overcrowded, ignorance was increasing, 
and physical deterioration was becoming so general, that on 
the occasion of a conscription in one district, u out of 
one hundred and seventy-four young men, only four were 
declared admissible by the reviewing army surgeons, the 
rest being physically incapacitated by the use of alcohol." 

IX. Russia. — In this great Empire drunkenness is not 
only unchecked by the government, but the distilleries 
and liquor stores, yielding more than one-third the entire 
revenue of the nation, it is encouraged and sometimes en- 
forced. The chief drink is VoclM, or com brandy. 

"Until 1752 it was farmed for £540,000; until 1774 for £900,- 
000; and until 1778 for £1,500,000 ; in 1779 it was let for four 
years, at the sum of £1,800,000; since which time it has been 
gradually increasing. So far back as 1789 the licenses to inns 
and taverns yielded £1,708,338, and the brandy sold in the cities 
of Petersburg, Moscow, and the parts adjacent, amounted to 
3,330,000 rubles per annum ; but this is not remarkable, when, 
in the city of Moscow alone, there were no fewer than 4,000 
kabaks or shops for the retail of brandy. The crown, or rather 
the chamber^of revenue, farms all the kabaks, and the contrac- 
tor or merchant who supplies them with spirits is prohibited 
from distilling himself, but is obliged to buy all from the func- 
tionaries of government, who either draw the brandy from their 
own distilleries, or obtain it by contract from those of the priv- 
ileged provinces." f 

In 1847 the brandy monopoly yielded a revenue to the 
crown, of £9,771,176. In 1854, this was the condition of 
affairs : 

* The Temperance Cyclopaedia, p. 388. 
t More wood, p. 253. 



138 Alcohol in History. 

"In the central provinces the farmer of the clnty on spirits 
buys the assistance of the local authorities, and between them 
it is arranged that all business shall be carried on at the pub- 
lic-house, glass in hand. In the other provinces, where the 
farmer of the duty has also an exclusive right of sale in his own 
district, he makes each commune take a certain quantity per 
head, or else he forces the peasants to pay a certain sum for 
permission to buy spirits elsewhere, threatening, in case of re- 
fusal, to accuse them of a breach of the revenue laws ; and they 
know that whether innocent or guilty, if once accused, they 
are sure to be condemned. The result is, in the words of Hax- 
thausen (a favorable authority), that in the provinces of Central 
Russia, the peasants are seduced into drunkenness, while in the 
other provinces they are forced into it." * 

And William Howitt, in bis work on the Revenue of 
Russia, written before the abolition of serfdom, said : " The 
nobles of Russia, who own vast numbers of serfs, are rather 
pleased than otherwise to find them indulging in drink ; 
it blinds them to their degradation ; and, in their cups they 
forget that they ought to be free men." On this head, he 
says: 

"Notice the remark of a writer, in a work recently published, 
viz., ' Take care how you advise a Russian noble to proscribe 
drunkenness in his domains/ the noble is so enchanted with the 
happiness ! it procures for his peasants, that, far from putting 
any obstacle to it, he encourages it with all his power. The 
government supports a considerable number of public-houses 
on the land of the nobles, from whence a large revenue is drawn. 
Again, let the reader mark an important fact, viz., The Temper- 
ance Societies have never been able to take root in Bussia." 

A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette, says that about 1859, 
as these farmers, having a monopoly of the trade, were charg- 
ing exorbitant rates for their liquors, some of the peasants, 

" Banded themselves into temperance societies, with a view 
to forcing down the prices. Hereupon the farmers complained 
to Government, and the teetotal leagues were dissolved, as illegal 
secret societies ; and summary measures were taken towards 
forcing the people to contribute to the revenue by their intem- 

* Gentleman's Magazine, 1854, pp. 481-2. 



Intemperance in Russia. 139 

perance. Policemen and soldiers were sent into the disaffected 
districts, and the teetotallers were flogged into drinking ; some 
who doggedly held out had liquor poured into their mouths 
through funnels, and were afterwards hauled off to prison as 
rebels ; at the same time the clergy were ordered to preach in 
their churches against the new form of sedition, and the press- 
censorship thenceforth laid its veto upon all publications in 
which the immorality of the liquor traffic was denounced. In 
1865 the people fancied that because they were no longer serfs 
they could not be treated so unceremoniously as of yore, 
but they found out their mistake. They were simply dealt 
with as insurgents, and, though not beaten, were fined, bullied, 
and preached at till there was no spirit of resistance left in them. 
However, this new rising led to the abolition of the monopolies. 
An excise was substituted, the price of vodki fell by competi- 
tion, and the lower orders of Russia are now drunker than ever. 
According to the latest returns (Wesselowski's Annual Register,) 
the liquor duties yield the revenue 800,000,000 roubles (£32,- 
000,000 sterling) a year." Equal to, $160,000,000. 

" Before the abolition of the monopolies a land-owner might 
set up a distillery on his estate, but he was compelled to sell 
the produce to the vodki farmers, and these speculators might 
build a public-house on his land against his consent, though 
he was entitled to fix the spot and to receive a fair rent. At 
present, the trade being free, licenses to distil and sell are 
conferred by Government (i. e., virtually bought of the Tschinn, ) 
and almost every land-owner of consequence has one. Prince 
"Wiskoff might get one if he pleased, and has more than once 
thought of doing so ; but he has been deterred for want of cap- 
ital to compete with his neighbor, Prince Runoff, who has a dis- 
tillery in full swing, and floods the whole district with its re- 
duce. 

" The Prince's chief agents are the priests, who in the farming 
days were allowed a regular percentage on the drink sold in 
their parishes, but who now receive a lump-sum, nominally as an 
Easter gift, but on the tacit understanding that they are to 
push the sale of vodki by every means in their power. These 
pious men do not go the length of urging their parishioners to 
get drunk, but they multiply the Church feasts whereon revelry 
is the custom ; they affirm that stimulants are good for the 
health, because of the cold climate, and they never reprove a 
peasant whose habitual intemperance is notorious. The Prince's 
land agent, the tax collectors, the conscription officers, all join 
in promoting the consumption of vodki by transacting their 
business at the village dram-shop, with glasses before them ; 



140 Alcohol in History. 

and even the doctor, who lives by the Prince's patronage, pre- 
scribes vodki for every imaginable ailment. The inducements 
to drink in the towns are not less than in the country. When 
the coachman, Ivan Ivanowitch, goes out for a stroll among 
the Hue shops of Odessa, he is lured into the tea shops by the 
loud music of the barrel-organs, and vodki is served him with 
his tea, as a matter of course. If he drives his master to a party, 
he has no sooner drawn up his trap under the shed in the host's 
yard, than the servants invite him into a lower room and give 
him as much spirit as he will drink; if he goes to the corn- 
chandler's for oats, to the veterinary surgeon about his horse's 
legs, to the harness makers or coachrnakers, the preface to all 
business is vodki ; and when he sets out to visit his kinsman 
upon holidays, vodki greets him upon every threshold. It is 
the same with the doornick when he ascends to the different flats 
of the house to collect rent or carry letters ; vodki is offered him 
before he has time to state his business ; and under these hos- 
pitable circumstances the wonder is not that the man should 
occasionally exceed sobriety, but that he should so often be 
sober. But in Russia a sober servant means — exceptis excipiendis 
— one who only gets drunk upon the festivals of the Church." 
"We have not," says a recent writer from St. Petersburg, "a 
single temperance society ; and the intemperance cause in Rus- 
sia is flourishing." * 

IX. England. — Although English history begins with 
the landing of Julius Caesar on the Island of Britain, in 
the year 56 B. C, all ancient writers agree that the inhabi- 
tants found there by the Romans, were a tribe of the Gauls, 
who at a not very remote period had emigrated from the 
neighboring continent. t Doubtless they took with them 
the general manners and customs of their Fatherland, 
among which was the manufacture and use of beer. Ac- 
cording to Maerobius, the Gauls had no knowledge of the 
cultivation of the vine till Rome had arrived at a high 
state of prosperity. Some Roman wine, given by a Helve- 
tian to the Gauls, so delighted them, that they were induced 
to attack the Roman capital in order to obtain unlimited 



* Centennial Temperance Vol., p. 354. 

t Hume's History of England, Vol. I. chap. i. 



Intemperance in England. 141 

supplies of this beverage.* Subsequently the use of the 
vine was taught in Gaul, but no advances were made in its 
culture till the arrival and conquests of the Romans. So 
late as the sixth century, beer was the common drink in 
Paris, a circumstance which drew from Julian, who had 
been appointed Caesar for Gaul, the following epigram: 

"Whence art thou, thou false Bacchus, fierce and hot? 
By the true Bacchus, I clo know thee not ! 
He smells of nectar ; — thy brain-burning smell 
Is not of flowers of heav'n, but weeds of hell. 
The lack-vine Celts, impoverish' d, breech'd, and rude, 
From prickly barley-spikes thy beverage brew'd: 
Whence I should style thee, to approve thee right, 
Not the rich blood of Bacchus, bounding, bright, 
But the thin ichor of old Ceres' veins, 
Express' d by flames from hungry barley grains, 
Child-born of Vulcan's fire to burn up human brains." 

Mead was also held in great esteem by the ancient Britons. 

u In the court of the ancient Princes of Wales the mead maker 
was held as the eleventh person in point of dignity. By an an- 
cient law of the principality, three things in the principality 
were ordered to be communicated to the King, before they were 
made known to any other person. First, every sentence of the 
judge ; second, every new song ; and third, every cask of 
mead." t 

When the Britons were finally subdued by the Romans, 
near the close of the first century, they begun speedily to 
imitate the manners of their conquerors, not simply says 
Tacitus,^ learning the Latin language, style of architecture 
and modes of dress ; but " by degrees they fell even into a 
relish of our vices." 

On their abandonment by the Romans, early in the fifth 
century, they were in danger of being overrun by the Picts 
and Scots, when a few Saxons coming to their relief, the 
invaders were defeated. In turn, the Saxons joined by the 

* See also Livy's History, Book V. sect. 33. 
f Bacchus, p. 208. 
X Agricola, xxi. 



142 Alcohol in History. 

Angles, conquered the natives, and established the Anglo- 
Saxon government. We have already seen from the testi- 
mony of Tacitus, that the German people were, early in their 
history, known to us as drinkers, and Wright, in his his- 
tory of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England, says 
of the Saxons, who were a German tribe, that it is "evident 
from the Romance of Beoroulf,* that they were drinkers be- 
fore they settled in Britain." " Their drinking cups," he 
says, are frequently found in their burrows or graves." t 
Miller, says that " the Saxons were hard drinkers, mead, 
wine and ale flowed freely at their feasts." J Turner describes 
their drinks as " wine, mead, ale, pigment, morat and cider. 
The pigment was a sweet and odoriferous liquor, made of 
honey, wine and spiceries of various kinds. The morat 
was made of honey diluted with the juice of mulberries. 
Three sorts of ale are mentioned, clear, Welsh and mild." § 
Feasting was frequent with them, often uproariously jolly, 
and not unfrequently ending in strife and bloodshed. 
Wright gives a translation of the legend of Juliana, in 
which the Evil Spirit describes his influence at the festive 

board : 

" Some I by wiles have drawn 
To strife prepared, 
That they suddenly 
Old grudges 
Have renewed, 
Drunken with beer; 
I to them poured 
Discord from the cup, 
So that in the social hall, 
Through gripe of sword, 
The soul let forth 
From the body." || 

* See copious extracts from this poem in Taine's History of 
English Literature. Book I. chap. i. 

t Pp. 2, 5. 

$ History of the Anglo-Saxons. By Thomas Miller, p. 359. 

§ History of the Anglo-Saxons. By Sharon Turner, Vol. II. 
pp. 203, 204. 

|| Homes of Other Days, p. 50. 



Intemperance in England. 143 

Indulgence in the intoxicating cup was not confined to 
the secular days, nor to those who made no profession of 
religious faith and conviction ; but was common with the 
clergy and with their congregations. Wright # quotes this 
record from the Ecclesiastical Institutes : "It is a very bad 
custom that many men practise, both on Sundays and also 
other Mass-days 5 that is, that straightways at early mom 
they desire to hear mass, and immediately after the mass, 
from early mom the whole day over, in drunkenness and 
feasting they minister to their belly, not to God." 

St. Boniface whites in the eighth century to the Archbi- 
shop of Canterbury : 

M It is reported that in your dioceses the vice of drunkenness is 
too frequent ; so that not only certain bishops do not hinder it, 
but they themselves indulge in excess of drink, and force others 
to drink till they are intoxicated. This is certainly a great crime 
for a servant of God to do or to have done, since the ancient 
canons decree that a bishop or a priest given to drink should 
either resign or be deposed." t 

As it became necessary to define the extent to which in- 
toxication should go in order to be improper or penal, the 
following definition was given : " This is drunkenness, 
when the state of the mind is changed, the tongue stammers, 
the eyes are disturbed, the head is giddy, the belly is swell- 
ed, and pain follows." \ 

In the Pagan ceremonies of the Saxons, the first day of 
November was dedicated to the Angel presiding over fruits, 
seeds, etc., and was therefore called " La Mas Ubhal, i. e., 
the day of the apple fruit; and being pronounced Lamaswool, 
the English have corrupted the name to LambVwool." § 
When the Saxons became Christians, their Papal teachers 
made no attempt to abolish wassailing, as the observance 

* Domestic Manners and Sentiments, p. 77. 
t Discipline of Drink, p. 77. 

t Sperm, Concilia, 286. Quoted by Turner, ii. p. 204 ; attrib- 
uted by Bridgett, p. 148, to Abp. Egbert. 
§ Vallancey, Collectanea, de Eebus Hibernicos, Vol. iii. p. 464. 



144 Alcohol in History. 

of this feast was called, but on the contrary, caused it to 
assume a kind of religious aspect, conformed in some re- 
spect to their new religious views. The wassel bowl was 
placed, in the great monasteries, on the Abbot's table, at 
the upper end of the refectory or eating hall, to be circulated 
among the community at his discretion, whence it received 
the honorable name of " Poculum Charitas." Still in use 
among the students of the English Universities, it is called 
the Grace Cup.* One verse of ancient song thus describes 
the mixture : 

"Next crown the bowle, full 
With gentle lambs-wool ; f 
Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger, 
With store of ale too ; 
And thus ye must doe 
To make the Wassaile a swinger." t 

Fosbrooke,§ states that both the monasteries and convents 
of the Anglo-Saxons were nurseries of the worst. imaginable 
vices ; that dissolute nobles and other persons of rank and 
wealth often purchased crown lands on pretence of founding 
Religious Houses, and that making themselves abbots, they 
gathered about them dissolute monks who had been expell- 
ed from the more strictly managed monasteries, and brought 
their wives and other women into their monasteries. Some 
of the nunneries were dissolute, especially at Coldingham, 
where the nuns are said to have spent their time in feasting, 
drinking and gossipping 5 to have u employed themselves 
in working fine clothes, dressing themselves like brides, 
and acquiring the favor of strange men." 

The Church authorities, as we shall see, fought against 
these evils, but even Bridgett concedes that it was not 
always with much success. 

"A monastery was sometimes a village or town, with many 

* Milner, Archie ologic, Vol. xi. p. 420. 

f Roasted apples. 

I Herrick's Hesperides, p. 376. 

§ British Monachism, vol. i. pp. 16, 17. 



Intemperance in England. 145 

hundred inmates. Most of these were laymen. They were re- 
cruited from all classes of society, and great criminals, no less 
than those who had been always pious and innocent, thronged 
into them. It would have been strange had they not brought 
with them some of their old bad habits. Again, long tasting 
united with hard manual labor, was their daily discipline. No 
wonder that when the refreshment hour came, the beer got into 
the heads of some." * 

The various accounts of the customs in both high and 
low life, show that excessive drinking was common with all 
classes. 

" We have an account of Ethelstan's dining with his relative 
Ethelfleda. The royal providers, it says, knowing that the 
king had promised her the visit, came the day before to see if 
every preparation was ready and suitable. Having inspected 
all, they told her : ' You have plenty of everything, provided 
your mead holds out.' The king came with a great number of 
attendants, at the appointed time, and after healing mass, 
entered j oyfully in the dinner apartment ; but unfortunately in 
the first salutation, their copious draughts exhausted the mead 
vessels. Dunstan's sagacity had foreseen the event and pro- 
vided against it ; and though i the cup-bearers, as is the cus- 
tom at royal feasts, were all the day serving it up in cut horns, 
and other vessels of various sizes/ the liquor was not found to 
be deficient. This, of course, very much delighted his majesty 
and his companions, and as Dunstan chose to give it a miracu- 
lous appearance, it procured him infinite credit." t 

Wright quotes the Chronicler Wallingford, as saying of 
an early Saxon dinner party, that u after dinner they went to 
their cups, to which the English were very much accus- 
tomed." He also shows, from the story of Dunstan and 
king Eadeny, that it was considered a mark of disrespect to 
the guests, even in a king, to leave the drinking early after 
dinner. u In the latter part of the day they were accus- 
tomed to sitting in their halls and drinking. At such times 
they rehearsed their adventures, sung songs, and made proof 
of their powers in hard-drinking." f From an Anglo-Saxon 

* Discipline of Drink, p. 136. 
t Turner, Vol. ii. p. 202. 

t History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments, pp. 30, 168. 
10 



146 Alcohol in History. 

poem entitled Judith, an extract is given, showing that the 
idea of a more ancient feast is borrowed from scenes in the 
time of the writer : 

" Then was Holofornes 
Enchanted with the wine of men : 
In the hall of the guests 
He laughed and shouted, 
Pie roared and dinned, 
That the children of men might hear afar, 
How the sturdy one 
Stormed and clamored, 
Animated and elated with wine. 
He admonished amply 
Those sitting on the bench 
That they should bear it well. 
So was the wicked one all day, 
The lord and his men, 
Drunk with wine ; 
The stern dispenser of wealth ; 
Till that they swimming lay 
Over drunk, 
All his nobility 
As they were death slain, 
Their property poured about. 
So commanded the lord of men 
To fill to those sitting at the feast, 
Till the dark night 
Approached the children of men." * 

The condition of holding and occupying the crown 
lands was often made to be the supplying of the King, at 
stated times, with liquors. Thus, in the reign of King 
Edward, A.D. 901 : " One William de Insula held one 
carocate of land, with the appurtenances, in West Hun- 
dred, by the Serjeanty of buying ale for the use of our 
Lord the King, and it is worth by the year one hundred 
shillings." f A carucate of land is defined as being no 
certain quantity, " but as much as a plow can, by course of 

* Turner, vol. ii. p. 204. 

t Blount! s Ancient Tenures of Land, and jocular Customs of 
some Manors, pp. 63,131, 133. 



Intemperance in England. 147 

husbandry, plow in a year 5 and may contain a messuage, 
wood, meadow and pasture." 

In the same reign, "Bartholomew Peytenyn holds two 
carucates of land at Stoney Aston in the County of Somer- 
set, of our Lord the King in Capite, by the service of one 
Sextary of Clove wine [about a pint and a half of spiced 
wine] to be paid to the King yearly, at Christmas. And 
the said land is worth ten pounds a year." In the reign 
of Edward the Confessor, A.D. 1042, " John de Roches 
holds the Manor of Winterslew in the County of Wilts, by 
the service, that when our Lord the King should abide at 
Clarendon, he should come to the Palace of the King 
there, and go into the Buttery, and draw out of any vessel 
he should find in said Buttery, at his choice, as much wine 
as should be needful for making a pitcher of Claret, 
which he should make at the King's Charge 5 and that he 
should serve the King with a cup, and should have the 
vessel from whence he took the wine, with all the remain- 
der of the wine left in the vessel, together with the cup 
from whence the King should drink that Claret." 

In the reign of King John, A.D. 1199, " Walter de 
Burgh and his Partners, hold sixteen Pounds land [as much 
as would pay a yearly rent of an English Pound of twenty 
shillings, ordinarily fifty-two acres,] in Rakey in the 
County of Norfolk, by the Seijeanty of paying two Muids 
[two hogsheads] of Red Wine and two Hundred Pears 
called Permeines, to be paid at the Feast of St. Michael 
yearly, at the King's Exchequer." In the same reign, 
" Walter de Hevene held the Manor of Runham in the 
County of Norfolk, in Capite of our Lord the King, by the 
Serjeanty of two Muids of Wine made of Permains to be 
paid to the King at his Exchequer, yearly, at the feast of 
St. Michael." 

Not far from the year 1000, King Edgar endeavored to 
check the vice of drinking, and to put an end to the dis- 
putes and violence arising from the practice of handing 
round to the guests on every social occasion, a common 



148 Alcohol in History. 

drinking vessel of large size, which they were expected to 
attempt to rival each other in draining. He ordered that 
all such vessels should be made with knobs or pegs of 
brass, at certain intervals, so that no one should be com- 
pelled to chink more at a draught than from one peg to 
another. Before long it became customary to insist that 
the full space between the pegs should be drained, and 
thence to see how many could, undetected, exceed the al- 
lowance, till at last it was customary to say of one who 
became inebriated sooner than the others, " he has got a 
peg too low." * 

"The two gallon measure had eight pegs : and the half pint, 
from peg to peg, was deemed a fitting draught for an honest 
man; but as the statute, or custom, did not define how often the 
toper might be permitted to indulge in this measure, people of 
thirsty propensities got rather more inebriated than they had 
dared to be previously. As the half-pint was roughly set down 
as the maximum of their draught, it was a point of honor with 
them never to drink less, — and to drink to that extent as often 
as opportunity offered."! 

The Danes, who at this time had made settlements in 
various parts of England, were notoriously hard drinkers, 
their soldiers setting no bounds to their debaucheries. 
Their habits in this respect caused them frequent surprises 
in their camps. The visit of King Alfred, in the disguise 
of a minstrel, to the camp of G-un thrum, where he found 
the soldiers steeped in drunkenness, is one of many inci- 
dents of a similar nature. 

The Ramsey History tells a story of a Saxon bishop, 
who invited a Dane to his house in order to obtain some 
land from him, and that he might drive a better bargain, 
he determined to make his guest drunk. He therefore 
pressed him to prolong his stay, and when they had all 
eaten enough at dinner, li the tables were taken away, and 
they passed the rest of the day, till late in the evening, 

* Club Life of London, vol. ii. p. 111. 
f Doran's Table Traits, p. 298. 



Intemperance in England. 149 

drinking. He who held the office of cup-hearer managed 
that the Dane's turn at the cup came round often er than 
the others, as the bishop had directed him." * 

The Danes, it is said, so tyrannized over the con- 
quered Saxons as not to allow them to drink in their pres- 
ence without first asking permission, under penalty of 
death ; a regulation which so terrified the Saxons that 
they dared not even take advantage of the privilege to 
drink unless a pledge was given that they should not be 
harmed in consequence of it. Hence the custom of pledg- 
ing in drinks. 

Towards the close of the eleventh century, the Normans 
conquered England. For a time there was a marked con- 
trast in their habits and those of the conquered Saxons. 
But soon they learned the vices of the people they had 
subdued by arms. William of Malmsbury is quoted as 
saying of the Saxons at this period : " They passed entire 
days and nights in drinking." Rioting in gluttony and 
drunkenness, they were " accustomed to eat till they be- 
came surfeited, and to drink till they were sick. These 
latter qualities they imparted to their conquerors : whose 
manners in other respects they adopted. " t 

In the twelth century drunkenness was on the increase, 
and more attention to the description and praise of intoxi- 
cants was given by writers. One thus enumerates the qual- 
ities of good wine : 

"It should be as clear as the tears of a penitent, so that one 
may see distinctly to the bottom of the glass. Its color should 
represent the greenness of the buffalo's horn ; when drunk, it 
should descend impetuously like thunder, sweet-tasted as- an al- 
mond, creeping like a squirrel, leaping like a roebuck, strong 
like the building of a Cistercian monastery, glittering like a 
spark of fire, subtle as the logic of the schools of Paris, delicate 
as fine silk, and colder than crystal." \ 

♦Wright, p. 30. 

f Ibid, p. 81. Also Taine, Book I. chapter ii. 

% Wright, p. 90. 



150 Alcohol in History. 

The monks were so gluttonous and dissipated that even 
contemporary ecclesiastical writers of this century upbraid- 
ed them in severe terms. Giraldus Gambrinus, one of 
these writers, complains with great indignation of the table 
kept by the monks of Canterbury ; and he relates this in- 
cident to show that the clergy were more extravagant in 
this respect than even the highest among the laity. 

"• One day, when Henry II. paid a visit to Winchester, the prior 
and monks of St. Swithin met him, and fell on their knees before 
him to complain of the tyranny of their bishop. When the king 
asked what was their grievance, they said that their table had 
"been curtailed of three dishes. The king, somewhat surprised 
at this complaint, and imagining, no doubt, that the bishop had 
not left them enough to eat, inquired how many dishes he had 
left them. They replied, ten ; at which the king, in a fit of in- 
dignation, told them that he himself had no more than three 
dishes at his table, and uttered an imprecation against the 
bishop, unless he reduced them to the same number." * 

Eridgett bears testimony to the drunkenness of the cler- 
gy in the following century, in recording that when the advo- 
cate of the Bishop of Worcester appeared before the Pope 
to argue against the exemption of Evesham Abbey, he 
said : " Holy Father, we have learned in the schools, and 
this is the opinion of our masters, that there is no prescript- 
ion against the rights cf bishops : n the Pope replied : 

" Certainly, both you and your masters had drunk too much 
English beer when you learnt this." f 

He also quotes an Archdeacon as adding, after extolling 
the zeal of the Irish clergy, of this period : 

11 Among so many thousands you will not find one who, after 
all his vigorous observance of fasts and prayer, will not make 
up at night for the labors of the day, by drinking wine and 
other liquors beyond all bounds of decorum." X 

It was at the latter part of the twelfth century, or early 
in the thirteenth, that duties were levied on imported wines, 
and 

* Ibid, p. 'MS. f Discipline of Drink, p. 79. J Ibid, pp. 79, 80. 



Intemperance in England. 151 

u A small license of four pence a year was paid by brewers. 
The publican sold tlie liquor he brewed himself, and was forbid- 
den to convey it to another burgh for sale. Outside a burgh no 
one could have a brew-house unless he had in the place furcam 
and fossani,— ' gallows and pit.' [The gallows for hanging 
men, the pit for drowning women.] Xo one could sell ale unless 
it had been brewed for sale and previously tasted. The provosfc 
and other public officials of the burgh were altogether forbid- 
den to brew ale or bake bread for sale ; no doubt lest they 
should be bribed indirectly in the administration of justice, or 
lest they should draw customers by intimidation. Public tas- 
ters were appointed, who had to make oath to taste and lawfully 
apprise the ale, according to the price of malt, and in so doing 
to spare or favor no one. The brewing and selling of the ale 
seems to have been an exclusively female occupation. One law 
runs as follows : l "What woman that will brew ale to sell shall 
brew all the year through, after the custom of the town. And 
if she does not, she shall be suspended of her office by the space 
of a year and a day. And she shall make good ale and approv- 
able as the time asks. And if she makes evil ale, and does 
against the custom of the town, and be convicted of it, she shall 
give to her amercement eight shillings, or be put on the cuck- 
stool, and the ale shall be given to the poor folk, the two parts, 
and the third part sent to the brethren of the hospital. And 
right so doom shall be done of mead as of ale. And each brewer 
shall put her ale-wand outside her house at her window or above 
her door, that it may be visible to all men. And if she do not 
she shall pay 4d fine." * 

" The same writer quotes Burton's Annals to the effect, 
that " in A.D. 1200, prices were fixed for the different 
kinds of wines, both wholesale and retail. The retail price, 
however, was found to be impracticable, as it allowed 
no profit, and was immediately changed, and so the land 
was filled with drink and drinkers." The original law in 
regard to duties paid by importers was : " that the King 
seized one tun before and one behind the mast." In the 
time of Henry III. the duty was changed to " one penny 
on a tun." 

It was in his reign also, A.D. 1266, that the price of 
beer or ale was established by law, an act being passed 



: Ibid, pp. 120-122. 



152 Alcohol in History. 

which provided u that when a quarter of wheat is sold for 
3s. or 3s. 4<L, and a quarter of barley for Is. 8d., and a 
quarter of oats for Is. -Id., then brewers, in cities ought, 
and may veil afford to sell two gallons of beer or ale for a 
penny ; and out of cities to sell three or four gallons for a 
penny." This was supplemented the same year by a 
" statute enacting penalties against brewers and venders 
who charged too much. 77 Subsequently the justices in each 
shire, and the mayor and sheriffs of the cities fixed the 
price, and " every beer and ale brew T er was forbidden to 
take more than such prices and rates as should be thought 
sufficient " by these authorities. * 

"Wickliffe, denouncing the clergy, in the middle of the 
fourteenth century, says 

" That they haunt taverns out of measure, and stir up laymen 
to drunkenness, idleness, and cursed swearing, chiding and 
fighting. For they will not follow earnestly in their spiritual 
office, after Christ and his apostles, therefore they resort to 
plays at tahles, chess and hazard, and roar in the streets, and 
sit at the taverns till they have lost their wits, and then chide 
and strive, and fight sometimes. And sometimes they have 
neither eye, nor tongue, nor hand, nor foot, to help themselves 
for drunkenness. By this example the ignorant people suppose 
that drunkenness is no sin; but he that wasteth most of 
poor men's goods at taverns, making himself and other men 
drunken, is most praised for nobleness, courtesy, freeness and 
worthiness. 77 f 

Jeaffreson says that in the fourteenth century, " Sunday 
was the day of the whole week for revels in the tavern and 
feasts at the Squire's table. ?? J 

On account of " chinking and buffooneries," it became 
necessary for a council held in London in 1342, to abolish 
wakes over the dead. § Twenty-five years later the Abp. 
of York " complains that in vigils men come together in 

* Ibid, pp. 124-128. 

t A Book about the Clergy, by J. C. Jeafixeson, Vol. I. p. 47. 

J Ibid, p. 149. 

§ Discipline of Drink, p. 177. 



Intemperance in England. 153 

the churches and at funerals, as if to pray ,• and then turn- 
ing to a reprobate sense, they indulge in games and van- 
ities, and even worse, by which they greatly offend God 
and the saints, whom they pretend to venerate ; and they 
make the house of mourning at funerals a house of laugh- 
ter and excess, to the great ruin of their souls." * 

Singular enough, the dying made provisions in their 
wills for " solace " and u recreation " for the mourners at 
their funerals, to be obtained in eating and drinking : 

" Katharine Cooke, widow of John Cooke, sometime Mayor 
of Cambridge, dying in 1496, left fifteen pence in money ' to the 
mayor, bailiffs, and such of their brethren there being present 
at the said dirge, at the calling of the said mayor and bailiffs 
to the tavern for a solace there among them to be had.' John 
Keynsham, alderman of Cambridge in 1502, appointed by his 
will an obit, at which the mayor, bailiffs, etc., shall assist, and 
that immediately after the dirge, ' a recreation, otherwise called 
a pinkett or banquet, to be had within the Abbey of Barnewell, 
at cost and charge of the treasurers, at which to be spent six 
shillings and eighteen pence in bread, cheese, a hogget of good 
ale and another of hostel ale ; ' for which he leaves founda- 
tion." f 

In u A Relation of the Island of England about the 
year 1500/' \ supposed to be the work of a Venetian noble- 
man who accompanied an Ambassador from Venice to Eng- 
land in 1497, it is stated that, " Few people keep wine in 
their own houses, but buy it, for the most part, at a tavern ; 
and when they mean to drink a great deal, they go to the 
tavern ; and this is done not only by the men, but by la- 
d? es of distinction." Wright says : § 

"The tavern was also the resort of women of the middle or 
lower orders, who assembled there to drink and gossip. In 
the Mysteries, or Eeligious Plays, Noah was represented as find- 
ing his wife drinking with her gossips at the tavern when 
he wanted to take her into the ark. The meetings of gossips in 

* Ibid. p. 177. 

f Ibid, p. 110. 

X Printed by the Camden Society, in 1847. 

$ Domestic Manners and Sentiments, pp. 437-439. 



154 Alcohol in History. 

taverns form the subjects of many of the popular songs of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, both in England and^ France. 
It appears that these meetings of gossips in taverns were the 
first examples of what we now call a picnic, for each woman 
took with her some provisions, and with these the whole party 
made a feast in common. One of the songs of the fifteenth cen- 
tury gives a picturesque description of one of these gossip-meet- 
ings. The women, having met accidentally, the question is put 
where the best wine was to be had, and one of them replies that 
she knows where could be procured the best drink in the town, 
but that she did not want her husband to be acquainted with 
it— 

' I know a draught of mery-go-downe, 
The best it is in all this towne ; 
But yet wold I not, for my gowne, 
My husband it wyst, ye may me trust.' 

The place of meeting having thus been fixed, they are repre- 
sented as proceeding thither two and two, not to attract ob- 
servation, lest their husbands might hear of their meeting. 
1 God might send me a stripe of two/ said one, ' if my husband 
should see me here/ i Nay/ said Alice, another, 'she that is 
afraid had better go home ; I dread no man.' Each was to carry 
with her some goose, or pork, or the wing of a capon, or a pig- 
eon pie, or some similar article — 

i And ech ofi* them wyll sum what bryng, 
Gosse, pygee, or capon's wyng, 
Past'es off pigeons or sum other thyng. 7 

Accordingly, on arriving at the tavern, they call for wine ' of 
the best/ and then — 

i Ech of them brought forth ther dysch ; 
Sum brought flesh, and sume fysh. 7 

Their conversation runs first on the goodness of the wines, and 
next on the behavior of their husbands, with whom they are iill 
dissatisfied. When they pay their reckoning, they find, in on^ 
copy of the song, that it amounts to three pence each, and re- 
joice that it is so little ; while in another, they find that each 
had to pay sixpence, and are alarmed at the greatness of the 
amount. They agree to separate, and go home by different 
streets, and they are represented as telling their husbands that 
they had been to church. 7 ' 

During this period the singular charities and fairs 
known as " Ales/' greatly flourished. When an unfortu- 



Intemperance in England. 155 

nate tradesman failed in business, his neighbors sent him a 
purse of money, which he was expected to convert into ma- 
terials for a feast or u ale/' to which the donors were invited, 
each paying a stipulated price for w T hat he might eat and 
drink, and w T ith the sum thus obtained, the bankrupt was 
started in business again. This was called, a u Bid Ale." 
A similar device for increasing the parish-clerk's meagre 
salary was designated the " Clerk Ale." # Stubbs, in his 
" Anatomie of Abuses/ 7 has the following, on 

" The Maner of Church Ales in England : In certaine townes 
where dronken Bacchus beares swaie, against Christmas, and 
Easter, Whitsondaie, or some other tyme, the chnrch-wardens 
of every parishe, with the consent of the whole parishe, pro- 
vide halfe a score of twenty quarters of mault, whereof some 
they buy of the churche stocke, and some is given them of the 
parishioners themselves, everyone conferring somewhat, accord- 
ing to his abilitie : whiche mault being made into very strong 
ale or here, is sette to sale, either in the church or some other 
place assigned to that purpose. Then when this is set abroche, 
well is he that can gete the soonest to it, and spend the most at it. 
In this kind of practice they continue sixe weekes, a quarter of 
a year, yea, a halfe a year together." 

William Kethe, in a sermon in 1570, complains that 
these Church- Ales are kept on the Sabbath day, " which 
holy day the multitude call their revelyng day, which day 
is spent in bullbeatings, bearebeatings, bowlings, dicying, 
cardyrjg, daunsynges, drunkenness, and whoredome, in so 
much, as men could not keepe their servauntes from 
lyinge out of theyr owne houses the same Sabbath-day at 
night." 

The satires written by the clergy themselves, give us a 
lively picture of the times, the general dissoluteness, and 
yet the fact that the various ranks and degrees in so-called 
Holy Orders, experienced different treatment and different 
fare. In Forbrooke's u British Monachism/' a number of 
these satires are preserved. We give extracts from two of 
different dates : 

* Jeaffreson, Vol. i. p. 351. 



156 Alcohol in History. 

" The abbot and prior of Gloucester and suite, 
"Were lately invited to sliare a good treat : 
The first seat took the abbot, the prior hard by ; 
With the rag, tag, and bobtail below was poor I. 
For wine for the abbot and friar the call ; 
To us poor devils nothing, but to the rich all. 
The blustering abbot drinks health to the prior ; 
Give wine to ray lordship, who am of rank higher ; 
If peorde below us but wisely behave, 
They are sure from so doing advantage to have ; 
We'll have all, and leave naught for our brothers to take, 
For which shocking complaints in the chapter they'll make. 
Says the prior, 'My lord, let's be jogging away, 
And to keep up appearances, now go and pray.' 
* You're a man of good habits, and give good advice/ 
The abbot replies : — they returned in a twice, 
And then without flinching stuck to it amain, 
Till out of their eyes ran the liquor again." 

This is from the other, of a later date : 

u One law for our rulers, another for us, 
To us wretches the smell ev'n of wine is unknown ; 
The vinegar 7 s ours, — the wine all their own ; 
Not a peg from the cloister must we dare to roam, 
While the lords of a dwelling withdraw to their home, 
To a smoking good fire, then set themselves down, 
And with nectar of heaven their best moments crown." * 

According to the same authority, the nuns were no bet- 
ter than the monks, f One of the questions to be asked 
was: "Item, whether any of the sisters be commonly 
drunke ? " " They were accused of avarice, voluptuous- 
ness and sloth 5 and one of them, the Prioress of Rumsey, 
was a notorious drunkard." 

"The abominable reputation of these religious houses in 1523, 
led to a visitation by Wolsey ; the immediate effect of which was, 
the suppression of from twenty to forty convents — authorities 
being somewhat at variance as to the number — and the conver- 
sion of their estates to the founding of Christ Church College, at 
Oxford. Subsequently a number of abbots, through fear of the 
visitation, voluntarily surrendered their property to the king ; 

* Quoted by Samuelson, p. 143. f Ibid, p. 145. 



Intemperance in England. 157 

and parliament, at the next session, suppressed three hundred 
and seventy-six, and vested their estates in the crown. The 
result shows that the common reputation of these establish- 
ments was no exaggeration. The preamble to the Act giving 
these estates to the king, recites that ' manifest sin, vicious, 
carnal, and abominable living ' characterized these ' religious 
houses of monks, canons, and nuns.'" * 

Hallam, while thinking that it is not to be doubted that 
in these visitations, "many things were done in an arbi- 
trary manner, and much was unfairly represented/' adds : f 

" Yet the reports of these visitors are so minute and specific, 
that it is rather a preposterous degree of incredulity to reject 
their testimony, whenever it bears hard on the regulars. It is 
always to be remembered that the vices to which they bear wit- 
ness, are not only probable from the nature of such foundations, 
but are imputed to them by the most respectable writers of pre- 
ceding ages. Nor do I find that the reports of this visitation 
were impeached for general falsehood in that age, whatever 
exaggeration there might be in particular cases. And surely 
the commendation bestowed on some religious houses as pure 
and unexceptionable, may afford a presumption that the cen- 
sure of others was not an indiscriminate XDrejudging of their 
merits." 

The sixteenth century seems to have been character- 
ized by as general dissipation as its predecessor had been. 
Strong beer was a penny a gallon ; table beer less than a 
half-penny ; Spanish and Portuguese wines a shilling ; 
French and German wines, eightpence. For a penny, then, 
the laborer, whose wages w T ere from threepence to six 
pence a day, according to his skill, could buy as much as 
the laborer of to-day can for a shilling, t Erasmus, who 
visited England in the early part of this century, gives a 
carious description of an English interior of the better 
class. The furniture was rough, the walls unplastered, but 
sometimes wainscotted or hung with tapestry ; and the 

* Constitutional History of England. By Henry Hallam, Vol. 
i. p. 72. 

t Ibid, p. 71. 

X Fronde's History of England, Vol. I. chap. i. 



158 Alcohol in History. 

floors covered with rushes, which were not changed for 
months. The dogs and cats had free access to the eating- 
rooms, and fragments of meat and bones were thrown to 
them, which they devoured among the rushes, leaving 
what they could not eat to rot there, with the drainings of 
beer vessels and all manner of unmentionable abomina- 
tions. Of the moral and intellectual condition of the peo- 
ple he exclaims : 

"Oh, strange vicissitudes of human things ! Heretofore the 
heart of learning was among such as professed religion. Now, 
while they for the most part give themselves up, ventri luxui pe- 
caniwque, the love of learning is gone from them to secular 
princes, the court and the nobility. May we not justly be 
ashamed of ourselves? The feasts of priests and divines are 
drowned in wine, are filled with scurrilous jests, abound with 
intemperate noise and tumult, flow with spiteful slanders and 
defamation of others; while at princes' tables modest disputa- 
tions are held concerning things which make for learning and 
piety." * 

Alexander Barclay, who wrote early in this century, says 
in his poem, the " Ship of Fools : " 

11 The holy day we fill with eche unlefull thing, 
As late feastes and bankettes saused with gluttony, 
And that from morn to night continually. 

* * * ^ * * 
The tavern is open before the church be ; 

The pots are ronge as bels of dronkennesse, 

Before the church bels with great solemnitie. 

There have these wretches their mattins and their masse. 

Who listeth to take heede shall often see dowtless, 

The stalles of the tavern stuffed with eche one, 

When in the church stalles he shall see few or none." \ 

Another poet is quoted as saying of taverns : 

i( They are become places of waste and excess, 

An harbor for such men as live in idleness. 

And lyghtly on the contry they be placed so, 

That they stand in men's way when they should to church go. 

* Ibid, p. 48. See also Hume, Vol. III. p. 448. 
f Jeaffreson, vol. II. p. 123. 



Intemperance in England. 159 

And such as love not to hear theyr faults told, 

By the minister that readeth the New Testament and Old, 

Do turn into the alehouse and let the church go ; 

And men accompted wise and honest do so." * 

The early taverns made no provision for supplying their 
visitors with food, beyond a crust to relish the wine ; and 
those who wished to dine before they drink, must go to the 
cooks, t 

In 1551 the following song appeared, and at once became 
popular. It has more poetic merit than any drinking song 
that had been sung before. Sixteen years later it appeared 
in a play entitled u Gammer Guston's Needle/ 7 written by 
Bishop Still. | The presumption is that he was the author 
of the song. The song commences wtth the chorus, which 
in singing, is repeated at the close of each verse : 

1 1 Back and side go bare, go bare, 
Both foot and hand go cold : 
But belly, God send thee good ale enough, 
Whether it he new or old. 

I cannot eat but little meat, 

My stomach is not good ; 

But sure I thinli, that I can drink 

With him that wears a hood. 

Though I go hare, take ye no care, 

I am nothing a cold ; 

I stuff my skin so full within 

Of jolly good ale and old. 

I love no roast, hut a nut-hrown toast, 

And a crah laid in the lire ; 

A little "bread shall do me stead, 

Much oread I do not desire. 

No frost nor snow, no wind, I trow, 

Can hurt me if I wold, 

I am so wrapt, and throughly lapt 

Of jolly good ale and old. 

*Ibid, p. 125. 

t Cluh Life of London, vol. II. p. 113, 

J The Works of the British Dramatists. By John S. Keltic, 
p. xxxviii. 



160 Alcohol in His 

And Tyb my wife, that as her life 
Lovetli well good ale to seek, 
Full oft drinks she, till ye may see 
Tlie tears run down lier cheek ; 
Then doth she trowl to me the howl, 
Even as a malt worm should ; 
And saith, Sweet heart, I took my part 
Of this jolly good ale and old. 

Now let them drink, till they nod and wink, 

Even as good fellows should do, 

They shall not miss to have the bliss 

Good ale doth bring men to : 

And all poor souls, that have scorned bowls, 

Or have them lustily trold, 

God save the lives of them and their wives, 

Whether they be young or old." 

In the reign of Elizabeth, so great was the drunkenness 
on the Lord's day, and so general the acquiescence in it, that 
parliament failed to pass a law, "That no victualler have 
his shop open before the service be done in his parish where 
he dwelleth." In a homily on the " Place and Time of Pray- 
er," the people are represented as resting " not in holiness, 
as God commandeth ; but they rest in ungodliness and 
filthiness, * * * in excess and superfluity, in gluttony 
and drunkenness, like rats and swine ; * * * so that 
doth too evidently appear that God is more dishonored, 
and the devil better served on the Sunday, than upon all 
the days in the week beside." * A great variety of names 
now begin to be attached to the ales, as single beer, or 
small ale, which is represented as being very mild : double 
beer, which was recommended as containing a double quan- 
tity of malt and hops ; double double beer, twice as .^strong 
as the last ; dagger ale, a particularly sharp and dangerous 
drink ; and a special favorite, the chief article of vulgar de- 
bauch, was commonly called Huflcap, but was also termed 
by frequenters of ale houses, Mad Dog, Angel's Food, and 
Dragon's Milk. "And never," says Harrison, " did Eomu- 

— — — ■ — «t 

* JeafTreson, Vol. H. p. 129. 



Intemperance in England. 161 

Ins and Remus seek their she-wolf with such eager and 
sharp devotion as these men hale at Huffcap, till they be as 
red as cocks, and little wiser than their combs." 

The wealthy brewed a generous liquor for their own con- 
sumption, which was not brought to the table till it was 
two years old. This w T as called March ale, from the month 
in which it was made. The poorer classes and the servants 
had to content themselves with a simpler beverage, which 
was seldom more than a month old.* Drunken feasting 
seems to have characterized both ecclesiastical and secular 
occasions. An instance of the fornu ' " "Pound in the account 
that when the Archbishop of Canterbury was enthroned, a 
fish banquet was given, at which the following drink pro- 
vision was made : " Six tuns of red wine, four of claret wine, 
one of choice white wine, one of white wine for the kitchen, 
one butt of Malmsey, one pipe of wine of Osey, two tierces of 
Rhenish wine, four tuns of London ale, six of Kentish ale, 
and twenty of English beer." t A striking instance of the 
latter is found in the fact of the general statement of Harri- 
son, that Queen Elizabeth's visits to her nobility were a 
great oppression to them by reason of the cost of her luxu- 
rious entertainment ; and by the special instance cited by 
Hume, of her visit to the Earl of Leicester, whereat, " among 
other particulars, we are told that three hundred and sixty- 
five hogsheads of beer were drunk." $ 

Health drinking, as it was called, was observed with a 
great deal of formality, the toasts beir ^ given, not to any 
person present at the feast, but to some one for whom the 
drinker had great partiality. Wright § quotes from a little 
book published in 1623, the following description of it : 

" He that begins the health, first uncovering his head, takes a 
full cup in his hand, and setting his countenance with a grave 
aspect, he craves for audience. Silence being once obtained, he 

* Wine and "Wine Countries. By Charles Tovey, p. 46. 
t Sainuelson, p. 137. 
X History of England, Vol. IV. p. 372. 
§ Domestic Manners, pp. 467, 468. 
11 



162 Alcohol in History. 

begins to breathe out the name, peradventure of some honorable 
personage, whose health is drunk to, and he that pledges must 
likewise off with his cap, kiss his ringers, and bow himself in 
sign of a reverent acceptance. When the leader sees his fol- 
lowei thus prepared, he sups up his broth, turns the bottom of 
the cup upward, and, in ostentation, gives the cup a phillip to 
make it cry twango. And thus the first scene is enacted. The 
cup being newly replenished to the breadth of a hair, he that 
is the pledger must now begin his part, and thus it goes round 
throughout the whole company. In order to ascertain that each 
person has fairly drunk off his cup, in turning it up he was to 
pour all that remained in it on his thumb nail, and if there was 
too much to remain as a drop on the nail without running off, 
he was made to drink his cup full again." 

Max Miiller has brought to light a volume of the Travels 
of Paul Hentzner in England, in 1598,* in which the Ger- 
man traveller, after remarking on the " clever, perfidious, 
and thievish " character of the English, and saying that 
"they are very fond of noises that fill the" ears," adds this 
curious statement : " In London, persons who have got 
drunk are wont to mount a church tower, for the sake of 
exercise, and to ring the bells for several hours." The 
statement of a popular historian f is to the effect that : 
" Excess in the use of wine and intoxicating liquors was 
now the common charge against the English, and it seems 
to be borne out, not only by the quantity consumed, but by 
the extent to wmich taverns had multiplied by the end of 
Elizabeth's reign." 

To this state of thing Shakespeare alludes in his Hamlet : 

" Is it a custom ? 
Aye marry is't : 

But to my mind, though I am native here, 
And, to the manner born, it is a custom 
More honored in the breach than the observance. 
This heavy-headed revel, east and west 
Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations ; 
They class us drunkards, and with swinish phrase 
Soil our addition : and, indeed, it takes 

* Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. III. pp. 232-237. 
t Knight's Pictorial History, Vol. II. p. 884. 



Intemperance in England. 163 

From our achievements, though performed at height, 
The pith and marrow of our attribute." 

In consequence, there was appalling insecurity of life, 
great increase of crimes against person and property, and 
although arrests were numerous and penalties severe, it is 
the uniform testimony of history that not more than a fifth 
part of these offences were ever punished by the civil law. 
Hume says that 

" There were at least three or four hundred able-bodied va- 
gabonds in every county, who lived by theft and rapine ; and 
who sometimes met in troops to the number of sixty, and com- 
mitted spoil on the inhabitants : * * * * and that the 
magistrates themselves were intimidated from executing the 
laws upon them ; and there were instances of justices of the 
peace who, after giving sentence against rogues, had interposed 
to stop the execution of their own sentence, on account of the 
danger which hung over them from the confederates of these 
felons." * 

The seventeenth century opens with the reign of James 
I., under whose administration drunkenness did not de- 
crease. He was known to be an habitual drunkard, and 
in his court men and women of high rank, copying the 
royal manners, rolled intoxicated at his feet.t Involved 
in difficulties with his parliament, and stinted by them in 
his allowance of money, he contributed greatly to the 
spread of intemperance by licensing an immense number 
of tippling houses, in order to increase his revenue. The 
visit of the Danish king and his courtiers, whose example 
of constant intoxication, the English people readily imita- 
ted, led to the remark that the Danes had again conquered 
England. Cecil gave a feast to the two monarchs, on 
which occasion both got so drunk that James was carried 
to bed in the arms of his courtiers, and Christian IV., in 
his stumbling intoxication, mistook his own chamber and 
offered the grossest insults to the Countess of Nottingham. 

* History, Vol. IV. p. 359. 

t Green's History of the English People, p. 473. 



164 Alcohol in History. 

ISTearly the whole company gave proof that they were capa- 
ble of following these examples. 

Sir John Harrington, an eye-witness, says : 

"The ladies abandon their sobriety, and are seen to roll about 

in intoxication The lady who did play the Queen's 

part (in the Masque of the Queen of Sheba) did carry most pre- 
cious gifts to both their Majesties; but forgetting the steppes 
arising to the canopy, overset her caskets into his Danish Ma- 
jesty's lap, and fell at his feet, though I rather think it was in 
his face. Much was the hurry and confusion ; cloths and napkins 
were at hand, to make all clean. His Majesty then got up and 
would dance with the Queen of Sheba ; but he fell down and 
humbled himself before her, and was carried to an iuner cham- 
ber and laid on a bed of state, which was not a little denied 
with the presents of the Queen which had been bestowed on 
his garments ; such as wine, cream, jelly, beverage, cakes, 
spices, and other good matters. The entertainment and show 
went forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or 
fell down ; wine did so occupy their upper chambers. Now did 
appear in rich dress, Hope, Faith, and Charity : Hope did assay 
to speak, but wine rendered her endeavors so feeble that she 
withdrew, and hoped the king would excuse her brevity : Faith 

. . . . left the court in a staggering condition 

They were both sick and spewing in the lower hall. Next came 
Victory, who .... by a strange medley of versification . 

. . . and after much lamentable utterance, was led away 
like a silly captive, and laid to sleep in the outer steps of the 
anti-chamber. As for Peace, she most rudely made war with 
her olive branch, and laid on the pates of those who did oppose 
her coming. I ne'er did see such lack of good order, discretion, 
and sobriety in our Queen's days." * 

Scotland and Ireland becoming parts of the same em- 
pire with England at the commencement of the seven- 
teenth century, there was naturally an interchangeable in- 
fluence from one portion of the nation to the other. Here- 
tofore the drunkenness of England had been almost wholly 
caused by fermented drinks ; now distilled liquors came in, 
and by the middle of the century the use had become com- 
mon. Distillation had been practiced in Ireland for 

* Taine, Vol. I. Book H. chap. i. 



Intemperance in England. 165 

nearly, if not quite a century, — the precise date is un- 
known, — and as early as 1558 such a drain had thus been 
made on the country's supply of corn as to call for leg- 
islative interference with the manufacture of ardent spirits, 
in order to avert a famine. The Irish called their new 
drink usiqiie ratlia, or usquebaugh, and also l)idcaan y the 
latter word derived from baile, madness, and caan, the 
head, was descriptive of the fiery properties of the liquor ; 
and from usiqiie, or usque, is derived whiskey. Moryson's 
History of Ireland is quoted by several writers as author- 
ity for the statement that in 1600, men and women never 
go to Dublin for the purpose of disposing of any article in 
the market, but they stay till they have spent the price re- 
ceived in usquebaugh, and have outslept two or three 
days 7 drunkenness. 

Sir John Parrot, Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1584, address- 
ing the mayor and corporation of Galway, said : " The 
aqua vitse that is sold in towns, ought rather to be called 
aqua mortis, to poysen the people, than to comfort them in 
any good sorte." * 

The dissolute habits of the English seem to have kept 
pace with the rapid political changes which characterized 
the seventeenth century. Tavern life grew more frequent 
with the people, and more debauched and dangerous. 
Bishop Earle, writing in 1650, thus describes a tavern : 

" A tavern is a degree, or (if you will) a pair of stairs above 
an alehouse, where men are drunk with more credit and apolo- 
gy. If the vinter's nose be at the door, it is a sign sufficient. 

* * * Men come here to make merry, but indeed make a 
noise, and this music above is answered with a clinking below. 

* * * A melancholy man would find here matter to work up- 
on, to see heads as brittle as glass, and often broken. * * * 
A house of sin you may call it, but not a house of darkness, for 
the candles are never out ; and it is like those countries far in 
the north, where it is as clear at midnight as at mid-day." f 

* War of Four Thousand Years, p. 138. 

f Club Life of London, Vol. II. pp. 118-119 



166 Alcohol in History. 

All the taverns had a bad reputation, although some 
were more uniformly the scene of violence than others. 
Among these was the Rose Tavern, in Covent Garden, 
which " was constantly a scene of drunken broils, midnight 
orgies, and murderous assaults by men of fashion, who were 
designated ' Hectors/ and whose chief pleasure lay in fre- 
quenting it for the running through of some fuddled toper, 
whom wine had made valiant." # This was in the days 
of the Commonwealth, when the high pitch of dissoluteness 
gave to England the name of the " land of Drunkards." 
But bad as the condition of the people then was, it was 
aggravated beyond all computation when Charles II. suc- 
ceeded the Protector. Beyond all question his was the 
most dissolute court, and his subjects the most drunken 
people known to the history of the English-speaking peo- 
ple. Pepys says of the Court : " Things are in a very ill 
condition, there being so much emulation, poverty, and the 
vices of drinking, swearing, and loose amours, that I 
know not what will be the end of it, but confusion." 

The clergy, blind to the debaucheries around them, were 
attributing the misfortunes and miseries of the times to the 
judgment of God on the people for not putting to death the 
murderers of Charles 1. 1 In a short time " the profligacy 
of the Court begun to show itself in more daring outrages 
than the indecencies and riots which rivalled the orgies 
of the lowest of mankind. The jolly blades racing, danc- 
ing, feasting and revelling, more resembling a luxurious 
and abandoned rout than a Christian court." \ The Parlia- 
ment which met at Edinburgh on the 1st of January, 1661, 
to accommodate the people and the laws to their changed 
condition on the accession of Charles, " has been honored/' 
says Knight, " with the name of the i drunken Parlia- 
ment.' " He quotes Burnett as saying, " It was a mad, 

* Ibid, p. 192. 

t Knight's History of England, Vol. IV . p. 259. 

t Ibid, p. 312. 



Intemperance in England. 167 

roaring time, full of extravagance 5 and no wonder it was 
so, when the men of affairs were almost perpetually drunk." 
The historian adds : " The violence of the drunken Parlia- 
ment was finally shown in the wanton absurdity of what 
was called the i Act Kescissory/ by which every law that 
had been passed in the Scottish parliament during twenty- 
eight years was wholly annulled." * 

A writer in Addison's Spectator, relates an incident, of 
which he says he was an eye-witness, of the king's dining 
with the Lord Mayor of London, when the latter, over- 
weighted with wine, grew more familiar with the king than 
was seemly at such a place 5 whereupon the king withdrew 
to his coach, but was pursued by the mayor, who with an 
oath insisted, " Sir, you shall stay and take t'other bottle ! w 
The king, far from resenting it, looked kindly at the 
mayor, and repeating a line of an old song, u He that is 
drunk is as great as a King/ 7 immediately turned back and 
complied with the demand, f Of the general debauchery 
an^febsence of moral sense characterizing this period, Ma- 
caulay closes a satirical description by saying : " It is an un- 
questionable and most instructive fact, that the years dur- 
ing which the political power of the Anglican hierarchy 
was in the zenith were precisely the years during which 
national virtue was at its lowest point." f 

Unfortunately, this condition of things characterized the 
most of the century, making religion disreputable through 
the example of the dignities of the Church, and defeating 
all political fairness and honesty. Lecky, thus describes 
the manner in which disputed elections were decided in 
Parliament, in 1672 : 

"It is impossible to conceive a more grotesque travesty of a 
judicial proceeding than vras habitually exhibited on these oc- 
casions, when private friends of each candidate and the mem- 
bers of the rival parties mustered their forces to vote entirely 

* Ibid, p. 258. 

tThe Spectator, No. 462. 

X History of England, Vol. I. p. 169. 



168 Alcohol in History. 

irrespective of the merits of tlio case ; when, tlie force of hearing 
evidence having been gone through with in an empty Houso, 
the members, who had been waiting without, streamed in, half 
intoxicated, to the division, and when the plainest and most 
incontestable testimony was set aside without scruple, if it 
clashed with the party interests of the majority." * 

Clubs with outrageous names, and addicted to still more 
outrageous acts, were organized in this century, and con- 
tinued their existence and depredations far into the next. 
Such were the " Thieves," wdio gloried in stealing and de- 
stroying property ; the " Lying Club," any member of 
which telling the truth between the hours of six and ten in 
the evening, paid a fine of a gallon of wine ; the " Bold 
Bucks," whose members all denounced the claims of God, 
and who, after disturbing divine service by parading back 
and forth before the churches w r ith bands of music and bois- 
terous shouts, sat down to dine on dishes named in blas- 
phemous derision of sacred things, prominent among which 
was " Holy Ghost Pie," after which they rushed into the 
streets, and shouting their motto : " Blind and Bold Love," 
committed the most horrible and disgusting atrocities 5 
and the " Sword Clubs," whose members, after getting 
roaring drunk at their suppers, took possession of the town, 
rushing violently about with sword in hand, demanding of 
all passers to defend themselves or suffer. 

In 1688, when the population did not much exceed 
5,000,000, there were 12,400,000 barrels of ale brewed in 
England, t about a third part of the arable land of the 
country being devoted to barley, raised for this purpose. 
About the same time the restrictions placed on distillations 
were removed, and the manufacture rose from 527,000 gal- 
lons of gin in 1684, to 2,000,000 gallons in 1714, to 
3,601,000 in 1727, and to 5,394,000 gallons in 1735. 

Early in the eighteenth century, — as soon as 1724, — 

* England in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. I. p. 477. 
t Ibid, p. 518. 



Intemperance in England. 1G9 

the passion for gin drinking, spreading like an epidemic, 
infected the masses of the population. Says Lecky : 

M ?niall as is the place which this fact occupies in English 
history, it was probably, if we consider all the consequences 
that have flowed from it, the most momentous in that of the 
eighteenth century — incomparably more so than any event in 
the purely political or military annals of the country.' 7 * 

As the evil progressed, as indicated above in the enu- 
meration of the supply of the poison, the clergy, the medi- 
cal profession and the county grand juries brought to bear 
all the arguments derived from increased immorality, dis- 
ease and crime, to induce the law-makers to arrest the evil. 
An attempt was made in 1736, by the passage of a bill 
intended to have the force of a prohibitory law, — a meas- 
ure which will be more fully noticed in another place. 
The state of morals at that time mus,t have been appalling. 
Smollett thus gives us a glimpse of the desperate condition : 

" The populace of London were sunk into the most brutal de- 
generacy, by drinking to excess the pernicious spirit called gin, 
which was sold so cheap that the lowest class of the people 
could afford to indulge themselves in one continued state of in- 
toxication, to the destruction of all morals, industry and order. 
Such a shameful degree of profligacy prevailed, that the retailers 
of this poisonous compound set up painted boards in public, in- 
viting people to be drunk for the small expense of one penny ; 
assuring them they might be dead drunk for two-pence, and 
have straw for nothing. They accordingly provided cellars 
and places strewed with straw, to which they conveyed those 
wTetches who were overwhelmed with intoxication. In these 
dismal caverns they lay until they recovered some use of their 
faculties, and then they had recourse to the same mischievous 
potion ; thus consuming their health, and ruining their fami- 
lies, in hideous receptacles of the most filthy vice, resounding 
with riot, execration and blasphemy. Such beastly practices 
too plainly denoted a total want of all police and civil regula- 
tions, and would have reflected disgrace upon the most bar- 
barous community." t 

* Ibid, p. 519- 

f History of England, by T. Smollett, M. D. Vol. III. chap. vii. 
p. 36. 



170 Alcohol in History. 

Hogarth's picture gives a vivid and frightful view of the 
physical degradation of the frequenters of " Gin Lane ; " 
and Lecky thus sums up the insecurity and immorality 
caused by the general dissipation : 

" A club of young men of the higher classes, who assumed the 
name of Mohocks, were accustomed nightly to sally out druuk 
into the streets to hunt the passers-by, and to subject them in 
mere wantonness to the most atrocious outrages. One of their 
favorite amusements, called ' tipping the lion/ was to squeeze the 
nose of their victim flat upon his face and to bore out his eyes 
with their fingers. Among them were the ' sweaters/ who 
formed a circle round their prisoner and pricked him with their 
swords till he sank exhausted to the ground ; the ' dancing mas- 
ters,' so called, from their skill in making men caper by thrust- 
ing swords into their legs, the ' tumblers/ whose favorite amuse- 
ment was to set women on their heads and commit various in- 
decencies and barbarities on the limbs that were exposed. Maid 
servants as they opened their master's doors were waylaid, 
beaten, and their faces cut. Matrons enclosed in barrels were 
rolled down the steep and stony incline of Snow Hill. Watch- 
men were unmercifully beaten and their noses slit. Country 
gentlemen went to the theatre as if in time of war, accompanied 

by their armed retainers Long after the Eevolu- 

tion, the policy of the Government was to rely mainly upon in- 
formers for the repression of crime, but the large rewards that 
were offered were in a great degree neutralized by the popular 
feeling against the class. The watchmen or constables were as 
a rule utterly inefficient, were to be found much more frequently 
in beer-shops than in the streets, and were often themselves a 
serious danger to the community. Fielding, who knew them 
well, has left a graphic description of one class. i They were 
chosen out of those poor, decrepit people who are, from their 
want of bodily strength, incapable of getting a livelihood by 
work. These men, armed only with a pole, which some of them 
are scarcely able to lift, are to secure the persons and houses of 
his Majesty's subjects from the attacks of gangs of young, bold, 
desperate, and well-armed villains. If the poor old fellows 
should run away, no one, I think, can wonder, unless it be that 
they were able to make their escape.' Of others an opinion may 
be formed from an incident related by Horace Walpole in 1742. 
C A parcel of drunken constables took it into their heads to 
put the laws in execution against disorderly persons, and so took 
up every woman they met, till they had collected five or six and 



Intemperance in Enjland. 171 

twenty, all of whom they thnist into St. Martin's roundhouse, 
where they kept them all night, with doors and windows closed. 
The poor creatures, who could not stir or breathe, screamed as 
long as they had any breath left, begging at least for water, hut 
in vain. In the morning four were found stifled to death, two 
died soon after, and a dozen more are in a shocking way. Sev- 
eral of them were beggars, who from having no lodging, were 
necessarily found in the street, and others honest, laboring 
women. One of the dead was a poor washerwoman, big with 
child, who was retiring home late from washing. One of the 
constables is taken, and others absconded ; but I question if any 
of them will suffer death, though the greatest criminals in this 
town are the officers of justice ; there is no tyranny they do not 
exercise, no villany of which they do not j)artake.' 

"The magistrates were in many cases not only notoriously 
ignorant and inefficient, but also what was called ' trading jus- 
tices/ men of whom Fielding said, i they were never indifferent 
in a cause, but when they could get nothing on either side. ; The 
daring and number of robbers increased till London hardly re- 
sembled a civilized town. * Thieves and robbers, ' said Smollett, 
speaking of 1730, i were now become more desperate and savage 
than they had ever appeared since mankind were civilized.' 

" The Mayor and Aldermen of London in 1744 drew up an ad- 
dress to the king, in which they stated that ' divers confedera- 
cies of great numbers of evil-disposed persons, armed with blud- 
geons, pistols, cutlasses, and other dangerous weapons, infest not 
only the private lanes and passages, but likewise the public 
streets and places of usual concourse, and commit most daring 
outrages upon the persons of your Majesty's good subjects whose 
affairs oblige them to pass through the streets, by robbing and 
wounding them, and these acts are frequently perpetrated at 
such times as were heretofore deemed hours of security.' The 
same complaints were echoed in the same year in the ' Propo- 
sals of the Justices of the Peace for Suppressing Street Bob- 
beries,' and the magistrates who drew them«p specially noticed, 
and ascribed to the use of spirituous liquors ' the cruelties which 
are now exercised on the persons robbed, which before the exces- 
sive use of these liquors were unknown in this nation.' .... 
• One is forced to travel,' wrote Horace Walpole in 1751, ( even at 
noon, as if one were going to battle ! . . . . The more ex- 
perienced robbers for a time completely overawed the authori- 
ties.' ' Officers of justice,' wrote Fielding, ' have owned to me 
thut they have passed by such, with warrants in their pockets 
against them, without daring to apprehend them ; and, indeed, 
they could not be blamed for not exposing themselves to sure 



172 Alcohol in History. 

destruction ; for it is a melancholy truth that at this very day a 
rogue no sooner gives the alarm within certain purlieus than 
twenty to thirty armed villains are found ready to come to his 
assistance/ 

'•When the eighteenth century had far advanced, robbers for 
whose apprehension large rewards were offered, have been 
known to ride publicly and unmolested, before dusk, in the 
streets of London, surrounded by their armed adherents, 
through the midst of a half-terrified, half curious crowd. . . 
. . . A multitude of clergymen, usually prisoners for debt 
aud almost always men of notoriously infamous lives, made it 
their business to celebrate clandestine marriages in or near the 
Fleet. They performed the ceremony without license or ques- 
tion, sometimes without even knowing the names of the persons 
they imiteJ, in public-houses, brothels, or garrets. They ac- 
knowledged no ecclesiastical superior. Almost every tavern or 
brandy shop in the neighborhood had a Fleet parson in its pay- 
Notices were placed in the windows, and agents went out in 
every direction to solicit the passers-by. 

u X more pretentious, and perhaps more popular establishment 
was the Chapel in Curzon street, where the Eev. Alexander 
Keith officiated. He was said to have made a ' very bishopric 
of revenue ' by clandestine marriages, and the expression can 
hardly be exaggerated if it be true, as was asserted in Parlia- 
ment, that he had married on an average 6,000 couples every 
year. lie himself stated that he had married many thousand, 
the great majority of whom had not known each other more 
than a week, and many only a day or half a day. Young and 
inexperienced heirs, fresh from college, or even from school, 
were thus continually entrapped. A passing frolic, the excite- 
ment of drink, an almost momentary passion, the deception or 
intimidation of a few unprincipled confederates, were often suf- 
ficient to drive or inveigle them into sudden marriages, which 
blasted all the prospects of their lives. In some cases, when men 
slept off a drunken fit, they heard to their astonishment that, 
during its continuance, they had gone through the ceremony. 
When a fleet came in and the sailors Hocked en shore to spend 
their pay in drink and among prostitutes, they were speedily 
beleaguered, and 200 or 300 marriages constantly took place 

within a week In many cases in the Fleet registers, 

names were suppressed or falsified, and marriages fraudulently 
antedated, and many households, after years of peace, were 
convulsed by some alleged pre-contract or clandestine tic It 
was proved before Parliament that on one occasion there had 
been 2,954 Fleet marriages in four months, and it appeared from 



Intemperance in England. 173 

the memorandum books of Fleet parsons, that one of them made 
£57 in marriage fees in a single month ; that another had married 
173 couples in a single day." * 

In the last half of the century there was visible improve- 
ment, but as late as 1780, a candidate for public honors : 

"If not defeated at the polls, by riots and open violence, — or 
defrauded of his votes by the partiality of the returning officer, 
or the factious manoeuvres of his opponents — was ruined by the 
extravagant costs of his victory. The poll was liable to be kept 
open for forty days, entailing an enormous expense upon the 
candidates, and prolific of bribery, treating and riots. During 
this period, the public houses were thrown open ; and drunken- 
ness and disorder prevailed in the streets, and at the hustings. 
Bands of hired ruffians, armed with bludgeons, and inflated by 
drink, — paraded the public thoroughfares, intimidating voters, 
and resisting their access to the polling places. Candidates as- 
sailed with offensive, and often dangerous missiles, braved the 
penalties of the pillory ; while their supporters were exposed to 
the fury of a drunken mob." f 

To an alarming extent, notwithstanding the general im- 
provement of the English people, these evils extended in- 
to and characterized the first third of the present century. 
In 1830, the Temperance movement gained a foothold 
throughout the kingdom of Great Britain. But in spite of 
the great work accomplished through the various agencies 
put into operation by this movement, intemperance contin- 
ues to be the great political, social and moral scourge of 
the land of our fathers. For the first twenty years of the 
nineteenth century the spirits distilled in England, aver- 
aged about 4,000,000 gallons per year, while the additional 
importations were about 3,400,000 gallons per year. \ 

In 1822, 7,584,807 barrels of beer were brewed in Eng- 
land, 2,000,875 barrels of which were brewed in London. § 
In 1875 a careful and exact writer published the follow- 
ing : 

* England in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. I. pp. 522-532. 
f May's Constitutional History of England, Yol. I. p. 280. 
\ More wood, pp. 293, 294. 
§ Ibid, p. 279. 



174 Aholiol in History. 

u The British people annually expend on intoxicating liquors 
a siiiii of above a hundred and thirty millions sterling, the great 
bulk of it coming from the pockets of men and women who 
would be seriously affronted if any doubt were cast upon their 
religious sincerity. This sum is sixty millions in excess of the 
Rational Revenue. It is one-sixth of the National Debt. It is 
one-fifth the value of all the railway property of the United 
Kingdom. It is equal to one-fourth of the income of the wage- 
receiving class, and one-eighth of the income of all classes uni- 
ted. It is equal to a yearly expenditure of £1 per head, and of 
£22 per family, in the United Kingdom. Bulky figures are sel- 
dom realized unless by illustrations drawn from familiar objects. 
One ingenious means of impressing the mind with a total so 
stupendous as that just named is the following : There are in 
the Old and New Testaments together 66 books, 1189 charters, 
31,173 verses, 773,746 words, and 3,566,480 letters. Now if these 
£130,000,009 sterling were distributed over each of these re- 
spectively there would lie on each letter £36, 10s. ; or on each 
word, £168; or on each verse £4170; or on each chapter 
£110,775; or on each book £1,969,696. Put edge to edge 130 
million sovereigns would form a golden belt (reckoning 41 to a 
yard) 1800 miles in length ; or a golden column (reckoning 15 to 
an inch) 140 miles in height. And this, be it remembered, is the 
drink: money of the British people for one year only, and year by 
year." A 

To what end tbis great amount is expended, take the 
testimony of Charles Buxton, Esq., M. P., a London 
brewer, given in 1855 : 

u Startling as it may appear, it is the truth, that the destruc- 
tion of human life, and the waste of national wealth, which 
must arise from this tremendous Russian war, are outrun every 
year by the devastation caused by national drunkenness. Nay, 
add together all the miseries generated in our times by war, 
famine, and pestilence, the three great scourges of mankind, 
and they do not exceed those that spring from this one calami- 
ty. This assertion will not be readily believed by those who 
have not reflected on the subject. But the fact is, that hun- 
dreds of thousands of our countrymen are daily sinking them- 
selves into deeper misery ; destroying their health, peace of 
mind, domestic comfort, and usefulness ; and ruining every fae- 

* Christendom and the Drink Curse. By Rev. Dawson Burns, 
A. M. P. 39. 



Intemperance in England. 175 

ulty of mind and body, from indulgence in this propensity. And 
then what multitudes do these suicides drag down along with 
them ! It would not bo too much to say, that there are at this 
moment half a million homes in the United Kingdom, where home 
happiness is never felt, owing to this cause alone ; where the 
wives are broken-hearted, and the children are brought up in 
misery. ........ 

" Then the sober part of a community pays a heavy penalty for 
the vices of the drunkard. Drink is the great parent of crime. 
One of the witnesses before the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons, states that he went through the New Prison at Manchester 
(it contained 550 criminals) with Thomas Wright, the prison phi- 
lanthropist. ' I spent an entire day,' he says, i in speaking with 
the prisoners, and in every case, without exception, drinking 
was the cause of their crime. 1 One of the Judges stated, some 
time ago at the Circuit Court in Glasgow, that l every evil 
seemed to begin and end in whiskey. 7 Judge Erskine in the 
same way declared at the Salisbury Assizes, in 1344, that ninety- 
nine cases out of every hundred arose from strong drink. . . 
. . Not only does this vice produce all kinds of positive mis- 
chief, but it also has a negative effect of great importance. It 
is the mightiest of all the forces that clog the progress of good. 
It is in vain that every engine is set to work that philanthropy 
can devise when those whom we seek to beneht are habitually 
tampering with their faculties of reason and will, — soaking their 
brains with beer, or inflaming them with ardent spirits. The 
struggle of the school, and the library, and the church all 
united, against the beer-house and gin-palace, is but one devel- 
opment of the war between heaven and hell. Well may we say 
with Shakespeare, ' O that men should put an enemy in their 
mouths to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, 
pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts V 

" Looking, then, at the manifold and frightful evils that spring 
from drunkenness, we think we are justified in saying that it is 
the most dreadful of all the ills that amict the British isles. 
We are convinced, that if a statesman who heartily wished to 
do the utmost possible good to his country, were thoughtfully to 
inquire which of the topics of the day deserved the most intense 
force of his attention, the true reply — the reply which would be 
exacted by a full deliberation, — would be, that he should study 
the means by which this worst of plagues can be stayed. The 
intellectual, the moral, and the religious welfare of our people, 
their material comforts, their domestic happiness, are all in- 
volved. The question is, whether millions of our countrymen 



176 Alcohol in History, 

shall be helped to become happier and wiser, — whether pauper- 
ism, lunacy, disease and crime, shall be diminished, — whether 
multitudes of men, women, and children, shall be aided to es- 
cape from utter ruin of body and soul. Surely such a question 
ao this, enclosing within its limits consequences so momentous, 
ought to bo weighed with earnest thought by all our x>atriots." * 

Still more recent testimonies are to the same effect : 

" The amount expended on intoxicating drinks in this country 
is larger than ever, and this increased drinking has been 
mainly induced by the greatly increased wages of the working- 
classes during the last few years. It has, however, produced 
such a fearful amount of social and moral evil that public atten- 
tion has been aroused to the question with a more earnest desire 
to do something to mitigate or prevent this great national 
vice." 

" The crime and misery that are daily chronicled in our public 
X>apers almost invariably can be traced to drink." "I deeply 
regret to say that Great Britain is more than ever cursed by in- 
temperance. The people will have it, and a foolish and wicked 
government will pander to them, so that our country is becom- 
ing one universal grog shop. London has about 2,000 churches 
open on the Sabbath, in order to raise the masses to God and to 
heaven, and about 11,000 public-houses to drag them down to 
hell." f 

In 1879, the Bishop of Manchester said : " I do not know what 
is to become of this country if the terrible drinking habits are 
to be persevered in by the great mass of the people, high and low, 
rich and poor, for I am afraid the curse is spreading like the 
leprosy everywhere. And when we say we hope God will give 
England back its days of prosperity, I am not quite sure that 
the days of prosperity will come back till England has become 
a sober and industrious land." 

The United States. — Just at this point we propose to 
set forth a few of the facts corroborative of the statement 
made near the beginning of this chapter, that the aborigi- 
nes of North America knew nothing of any kind of intoxi- 
cating drinks till the arrival of Europeans among them. 

* How to Stop Drunkenness, pp. 8-13. 

t Letters of Samuel Bowly, Esq., Lord Claud Hamilton, and 
Eev. John Jones, D.D., in Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 
346, 347, 355. 



Intemperance h the United States - 177 

xn oepiemuer, 1609, Henry liuub^r>, the British naviga- 
tor, sailed into New York bay. Some Indians who were 
fishing caught sight of his vessel, and in theii wonder at so 
strange a sight hurried to the shore to inform their coun- 
trymen, who soon assembled, set their conjurers to work to 
determine what it might be and mean, and how they ought 
to receive the strange people whom they could now see on 
its deck. They concluded that the chief man of the group, 
distinguished by his red coat and glittering gold lace, 
must be the Manitou, the Great or Supreme Being, come 
to bring them some kind of game, such as they had not been 
favored with before, and so prepared an abundance of meat 
for a sacrifice and feast. At last the house, or as some 
say, the large canoe, stops, and a canoe of smaller size 
comes to the shore, bearing among others, the Manitou 
himself. The chiefs and wise men form a circle and re- 
ceive their visitors, wlio salute them with a friendly counte- 
nance. Then one of the strangers produces a large bottle 
from which he pours an unknown substance into a small 
glass, and hands it to the supposed Manitou. 

'• He drinks, has the glass filled again, and hands it to the 
chief standing next to him. The chief receives it, but only 
smells the contents and passes it on to the next chief, who does 
the same. The glass or cup passes through the circle, without 
the liquor being tasted by any one, aud is upon the point of be- 
ing returned to the red clothed Manitou, when one of the In- 
dians, a brave man and a great warrior, suddenly jumps up and 
harangues the assembly on the impropriety of returning the cup 
with its contents. It was handed to them, says he, by the Man- 
itou, that they should drink out of it, as he himself had done. 
To follow his example would be pleasing to him ; but to return 
what he had given them might provoke his wrath, and bring 
destruction on them. And since the orator believed it for the 
good of the nation that the contents offered them should bo 
drunk, and as no one else would do it, he would drink it him- 
self, let the consequence be what it might ; it was better for one 
man to die, than that a whole nation should be destroyed. He 
then took the glass, and bidding the assembly a solemn fare 
well, at once drank up its whole contents. Every eye was fixed 
on the resolute chief, to see what effect the unknown liquor 



178 Alcohol in History. 

would produce. He soo_ otgan Uu .. ^ ^ -_ - 

trate on the ground. His companions now bemoan his fate, he 
falls into a sound sleep, and they think he has expired. He 
wakes again, jumps up and declares that he has enjoyed the 
most delicious sensations, and that he never before felt himself 
so happy as after he had drunk the cup. He asks for more, his 
wish is granted ; the whole assembly then imitate him, and all 
become intoxicated." 

"I have no doubt," says Hecke welder, from whom we have 
quoted the foregoing, u that this tradition is substantially 
founded on fact. Indeed, it is strongly corroborated by the 
name which, in consequence of this adventure, those people 
gave at the time, to that island, and which it has retained to 
this day. They called it Manahachta-nienlc, which in the Dela- 
ware language means ' the island where we all became intoxicated. 7 
We have corrupted this name into Manhattan, but not so as to 
conceal its meaning, or conceal its origin. The last syllable, 
which we have left out, is only a termination, implying locality, 
and in this word signifies as much as where we. There are few 
Indian traditions so well supported as this." * 

The following year, the Dutch made settlements on the 
island. As is almost uniformly the case, dissolute and dis- 
honest men were among the early settlers, and true to 
their base instincts, these liberally supplied the Indians 
with intoxicants, that they might more easily overreach 
and rob them. Angry and bloody quarrels were the con- 
sequence, and at times the settlements were wholly depop- 
ulated by the maddened natives. 

" But," says Bancroft, " the traders did not learn humanity, 
nor the savage forget revenge ; and the son of a chief, stung by 
the conviction of having been defrauded and robbed, aimed an 
unerring arrow at the first Hollander exposed to his fury. A 
deputation of the river chieftains hastened to express their sor- 
row, and deplore the alternate, never-ending libations of blood. 
* ■" » * t you yourselves/ they said, ' are the cause of this evil. 
You ought not to craze the young Indians with brandy. Your 
own people, when drunk, fight with knives, and do foolish 

* History, Manners, and Customs of the Native Indians, pp. 
71-74 ; 262. 



Intemperance in the United States. 179 

things ; and you cannot prevent mischief, till you cease to sell 
strong drink to the Indians." " 



,n>! 



Iii tlic Dutch settlements on the Delaware the same dis- 
graceful and dangerous traffic was carried on, and in IG60, 
"the greatest chief of the Minquas," complains of D'Hin- 
oyossa, the Director of the colony, that the outrageous con- 
duct of the Indians arises from his not restricting the sale 
of liquors. Beekman, the commissary, charges the same 
negligence on his superior, and says that allowing drink to 
be sold to the savages, they behave shamefully. 77 1 Two 
years later, D'Hinoyossa, yielding to the solicitations of 
the Indians, prohibits the sale of liquors to the Indians, 
under penalty of 300 guilders, and authorizes the savages 
to rob those who bring them strong liqnors.f 

In 1668, the English being then in possession, a messen- 
ger conveys the request of the Indians that there shall be 
an absolute prohibition on the whole river, of selling 
strong liquors to their people. In 1671, Deputy Governor 
Lovelace " leaves to the discretion of the military officers 
the selling of liquor to the Indians :" and in 1675, there is 
a special order of the Court : " Strong liquors not to be 
sold to the Indians less than two gallons, under penalty 
of five shillings sterling. 77 The chiefs finding it impossible 
to obtain a general prohibition, unite in a petition to the 
Governor and Council of Pennsylvania, in 1681, asking 
that the local prohibition may be removed, for reasons 
which they thus set forth : 

"Whereas the selling of strong liquors was prohibited in Penn- 
sylvania, and not at New Castle, we find it a greater ill-con- 
venience than before, our Indians going down to New Castle, 
and there buying rum, and making them more debauched than 
before, in spite of the prohibition. Therefore, we, whose 
names are here u^der written, do desire that the prohibition may 

* History of the United States, by George Bancroft. Vol. II. 
p. 289. 

t Annals of Pennsylvania, by Samuel Hazard, pp. 314, 316. 
t Ibid, p. 333. 



180 Alcohol in History. 

be taken off, and rum and strong liquors may be sold (in the 
foresaid province) as formerly, until it be prohibited in New 
Castle, and in the government of Delaware." * 

The same year, William Penn writes from London, to 
the Indians, and sends by the hands of his commissioners, 
as follows : 

" I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice that 
hath been too much exercised toward you by the people of 
these parts of the world, who sought themselves, and to make 
great advantages by you, rather than to be examples of justice 
and goodness unto you, which I hear hath been matter of 
trouble to you, and caused great grudgings and animosities, 
sometimes to the shedding of blood, which hath made the great 
God angry; but I am not such a man, as is well known in my 
own country; I have great love and regard towards you, and I 
desire to win and gain your love and friendship, by a kind, 
just and peaceful life, and the peojde I send are of the same 
mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly." t 

" In this spirit Penn and his religions associates, the 
Friends, conducted all their dealings with the Indians, and 
were especially zealous to keep the intoxicating bowl 
away from them. Large sums were offered him for the 
monopoly of the Indian trade, but he sternly refused, being 
resolved, he said, " not to act unworthy of God's provi- 
dence and so defile what came to me clean." " To have 
sold that monopoly," says Janney, " would have frustrated 
the efforts made by him and his friends to prevent the sale 
of rum to the Indians, and to promote their civilization." { 

Perhaps the only instance of departure from this policy, 
on the part of the Friends, was on the occasion of the pur- 
chase of lands in New Jersey, by the Colony led by 
John Fenwick, in 1675, when among the articles paid to 
the Indians, " there were included more than 300 gallons 
of rum. The colonists themselves, not having yet seen 

* Ibid, pp. 372, 387, 418, 532. 
t Ibid, p. 533. 

X History of the Religious Society of Friends. By Samuel M. 
Janney, Vol. II. p. 388. 



Intemperance ir the United States, 181 

the propriety of abstaining from intoxicating drinks as a 
beverage, were probably not aware of the fearful sconrge 
they were introducing among the simple children of nature. 
It was but a few years after this, when the Friends settled 
in New Jersey adopted measures to prevent the sale of 
rum to the Indians." # 

In 1(385, the Yearly Meeting for Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey adopted the following minute: 

u This meeting doth unanimously agree and give as their 
judgment, that it is not consistent with the honor of Truth, 
for any that make profession thereof, to sell rum or any strong 
liquors to the Indians, because they use them not to modera- 
tion, but to excess and drunkenness." 

The same was reaffirmed in 1687, the following clause 
being added in the latter year : 

" And for the more effectually preventing this evil practice, 
we advise that this our testimony may be entered in every 
monthly-meeting book, and every Friend belonging to the 
said meeting to subscribe the same." f 

Thomas Campanius Holm, in his " History of the Prov- 
vince of New Sweden, now Pennsylvania/' published in 
1702, says of the Indians : 

" As to their manners and customs, they have greatly changed 
since the Swedes first came among them. It has been observed 
and been a subject of regret, as Sir William Penn and others 
relate, that they have learned many vices by their intercourse 
with the Christians ; particularly drunkenness, which was be- 
fore unknown to them, as they drank nothing but pnre water."}: 

Francis Daniel Pastorius, who came to this country in 
1683, and settled Germantown, near Philadelphia, said of 
the earlier settlers : 

" These never had the proper motives in settling here, 
for ir>-' _,xd of instructing the poor Indians in the Christian vir- 

* Ibid, p. 368 

f Ibid, Vol. III. pp. 501, 502. 

t Du Ponceau' s translation, Memoirs of The Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, Vol. III. Part I, p. 118. 



182 Alcohol in History. 

tueSj tlieir only desire was gain, without ever scrupling about 
the means employed in obtaining it. * * * * These wicked peo- 
ple make it a custom to pay the savages in rum and other 
liquors for the furs they bring to them, so that these poor delu- 
ded Indians have become very intemperate, and sometimes 
drink to such excess that they can neither walk nor stand. 7 ' * 

In 1753, Rev. Timothy Woodbridge attempted to do 
some missionary work among the Indians in Kew York, 
and mentioning to them that one great impediment to suc- 
cessful work was " their intemperate use of Strong 
Lyquors," they desired him to communicate this reply to 
Sir William Johnson : 

" My Brother, my dear Brother, pity us. Your Batoe is often 
here at our place, and brings us rum, and that has undone us. 
Sometimes on Sunday our people drink and can't attend to their 
duty, which makes it extreamly dirricult. But now we have cut 
it off, we have put a stop to it. You must not think, one man, 
or a few men, have done it : we all of us, both old and young, 
have done it. It is done by the whole. My Brother, I would 
have you tell the great men at Albany, Skenectetee, and Sko- 
harry not to bring us any more rum. I would have you bring 
powder, lead and clothing, what we want, and other things 
what you please, only don't bring us any Strong Lyqiiors .... 
You live nearer your brother than I do, and you are more inti- 
mate together ; I would have you tell him to bring no more ruin 
to my place. He has sent a great deal of it there, and we die 
many of us only by strong drink. I would have you take care 
that no more is brought to us. Now my Brother pity us ; rum 
is not good, we have had enough of it. This is the third time 
that I have sent to you that I would have no more rum brought 
here." f 

At a Council held by Col. Johnson with the Indians, a 
few months later, one of the chiefs said : "We Eeturn you 
a great many thanks for stopping the Hum coming to the 
Six Nations, and would be very glad the same Prohibi- 
tion would have effect at Oswego." t 

* Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. f V. 
Part II. p. 98. 

t Documentary History of New York, Vol II. p. 627, 628. 
t Ibid, p. 640. 



intemperance, in the United States. 183 

The following year the Mohawks made a similar re- 
quest. * But the trouble then was the same as it has al- 
ways been in the intercourse of the baser sort of settlers 
and adventurers with the Indians, greed overbears all other 
considerations, and the prospect of immediate gain blinds 
them to all future consequences. Sir William Johnson 
complained, in 1770, that 

" Many traders carry little or nothing except Kmn, because 
their profits upon it are so considerable. Again, whenever In- 
dians are assembled on public affairs, there are always traders 
secreted in the neighborhood, and some publicly, who not only 
make them intoxicated during the time intended for Public 
business, but afterwards get bach /great part of their presents 
in exchange for Spirituous Liquors." t 

" The traders and huuters of this period/' says the biogra- 
pher of David Zeisberger, the Western Pioneer and Apostle of 
the Indians, " formed a class of their own ; hold, courageous, 
and with a sagacity almost equal to that of the Indians, but 
unscrupulous and dishonest, of degraded morals, intent upon 
their own advantage, and indifferent to the rights of the na- 
tives." % 

The authority whom we have several times quoted, — and 
there is no more reliable or competent one on this subject, 

— says : 

" It is a common saying with those white traders who find it 
their interest to make the Indians drunk, in order to obtain 
their peltry at a cheaper rate, that they will have strong 
liquors, and will not enter upon a bargain unless they are sure 
of getting it. I acknowledge that I have seen some such cases ; 
but I could also state many from my own knowledge, where the 
Indians not only refused liquor, but resisted during several days 
all the attempts that were made to induce them even to taste it, 
being well aware, as well as those who offered it to them, that 
if they should once put it to their lips, such was their weakness 
on that score, that intoxication would inevitably follow. * * 
* * The Indians are very sensible of the state of degradation 
to which they have been brought by the abuse of stroug liquors ; 

* Ibid, 592. 

t Ibid, p. 976. 

X Life of Zeisberger, by Edmund De Schwenitz, p. 255. 



184 Alcohol in History. 

and whenever they speak of it, never fail to reproach the whites, 
for having enticed them into that vicious habit. I could easily 
prove how guilty the whites are in this respect, if I were to re- 
late a number of anecdotes, which I rather wish to consign to 
oblivion. v :: 

The Indians found in New England had also no knowl- 
edge of intoxicants before their intercourse with the whites. 
Roger Williams t testifies that their only chink was water. 
Robertson says : " They were not acquainted with any in- 
toxicating drink." $ Gov. Hutchinson says : 

"They had nothing that would intoxicate them. As soon as 
they had a taste of the English sack, and strong waters, they 
were bewitched with them, and by this means more have been 
destroyed than have fallen by the sword. 7 ' § 

Palfrey in his more recent work, says , " Water was their only 
drink, except when they could flavor it with the sweet juice for 
which in Spring they tapped the rock inaple trees." || 

In 1629, the Massachusetts Company in London, sent 
among then instructions to Gov. Endicott, the following : 

i( VTe pray you endeavor, though there be much strong water 
for sale, yet so to order it as that the savages may not, for our 
lucre sake, be induced to the excessive use, or rather abuse of 
it, and at any time take care our people give uo ill example : and 
if any shall exceed in that inordinate kind of drinking as to be- 
come drunk, we hope you will take care his punishment be 
made exemplary for all others." ft 

Whereupon we find that one of the earliest laws of the 
Colony was the following, passed in 1633 : " X o man shall 
sell or (being in a course of trade) give any strong water to 
any Indian. 77 ** 

* Heckewelder, pp. 266, 267. 
f Key to the Indian Language. 
t History of America, Vol. I. p. 218. 
§ History of Massachusetts, Yol. I. chap. vi. 
II History of Xew England, Yol. I. p. 32. 

ft Young's Chronicles of the First Planters of Massachusetts 
Eay, p. 190. 

** Massachusetts Colony Records, Yol. I. p. 16. 



Intemperance in the United States. 185 

In 1G-44 there was a temporary letting down of this pro- 
hibition by the following order : 

" The court, apprehending that it is not fit to deprive the In- 
dians of any lawful comfort wliicli God allovreth to all men by 
the use of wine, orders that it shall be lawful for all who are 
licensed to retail wines to sell also to Indians." * Four years 
later, mischief having already come from this opening of the 
door, it was attempted to partially close it by ordering that 
" only one person in Boston be allowed to sell wine to the In- 
dians." t 

In 1657, confession is made of inability to confine drink- 
ing by the Indians to moderation, and so, " all persons are 
wholly prohibited to sell, truck, barter, or give any strong 
liquors to any Indian, directly or indirectly, whether known 
by the name of rum, strong waters, w T lne, strong beer, 
brandy, cider, or perry, or any other strong liquors going 
under any other name whatsoever." f I do not find that 
the Plymouth Colony ever permitted intoxicants to be sold 
to the Indians ; but it imposed a fine on all who should en- 
gage in such traffic with the natives. § 

The melancholy and disgraceful fact stares us in the 
face, therefore, that the white people are responsible for the 
intemperance of the aborigines of Xorth America 5 and if 
responsible for the cause of their demoralization, and cruel 
barbarities, on whom but on themselves can they place the 
responsibility for the consequences of such degradation, 
shame and violence ? While the policy of our General 
Government has been to protect the Indians, by prohibiting 
the traffic of intoxicants among them, the agents of the 
government have not been ignorant of the presence among 
the Indians, and even at the frequent councils held with 
the various tribes, of a set of lawless, unprincipled adven- 
turers, whose sole object has been to make them drunk in 

* Ibid, Vol. II. p. 85. 

t Ibid, p. 258. 

tlbid, Vol. III. p. 425. 

§ Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. II. pp. 150, 207. 



186 Alcohol in History. 

order that they may obtain for themselves the money and 
numerous stores paid by the government to its dependent 
wards ; and not unfrequently these very agents have re- 
sorted to this unlawful and rascally course, for their own 
more sudden enrichment. Our broken treaties with the In- 
dians are also, in the majority of cases, due to the influence 
of rum. Reckless and abandoned men, the scum of our 
great cities, fugitives from justice, utterly unprincipled and 
debauched, hang on the borders of civilization, making 
constant agression on the lands reserved for the Indians, 
until at last, dissipation leads to violence, and in order to 
prevent bloodshed, the Indians are driven still farther into 
the wilderness, to be again in like manner dispossessed of 
their homes there. The problem is confessedly a difficult 
one to solve, since so extended is our frontier line that it 
seems utterly impossible to guard it from such wanton in- 
trusion ; but nobody can doubt that the just and wise thing 
to do would be by the severest measures to make an ex- 
ample of the dissolute intruders, rather than by breaking 
faith with the Indians, invite a repetition of such disgrace 
and wrong. 

Intemperance among the white people of the United 
States has a sad history, and is to the present an extensive 
evil. The early adventurers in the New World, were, 
whether Spanish, French, or English, impelled thereto by 
the prospect of gain ,• some sought it through the legitimate 
channels of trade, and many others were drawn here by the 
expectation of finding gold in such immense quantities that 
they had only to land, fill their vessels and return home rich. 
As is always the case in such expeditions, the worst char- 
acters engaged in them ; not only the broken down in bus- 
iness, the indolent and improvident, but criminals, also, men 
of the worst passions and of the basest habits. Even the 
prisons were opened that their inmates might brave the 
dangers of exploration and the subjugation of the savage 
inhabitants of America, and so prepare the way for the less 
reckless to follow with greater safety ; and the most aban- 



Intemperance in the United States. 187 

doned portions of the European cities furnished recruits 
whose chief characteristics were dissipation and licentious- 
ness.* 

As late as the beginning of the seventeenth century, when 
religious motives, the desire to escape persecution for opin- 
ion's sake, and to enjoy liberty of conscience, led to the 
attempt to plant permanent colonies that should be estab- 
lished in the fear of God, a chief hindrance, as is shown in 
all the early colonial records, was the intrusion of reckless 
and dissipated emigrants, who frustrated the efforts of the 
well-disposed in gaining the confidence and securing the 
peaceable attitude of the natives. A notable instance of 
this kind was the settlement made at Mt. Wallaston in 1625, 
and the change of the name of the place to Mare, or Merry- 
mount, by Thomas Morton, the leader of the jovial crew, 
who, partly for trade and partly for pleasure, made their 
abode there. Well furnished with "strong beer and a liberal 
supply of bottles containing yet stronger fluid," he insti- 
tuted Bacchanalian riotings, in which the Indians, both men 
and women, joined him, to the so great scandal of the settlers 
at Plymouth, that they took him captive, exiled him to 
England, and utterly broke up his settlement.* 

As early as 1633 legislation against intemperance com- 
menced in the New England colonies, as will be more fully 
seen in a subsequent chapter ; but a great difficulty then in 
the way was the fact that there were few, if any, total ab- 
stainers among those who made and executed the law r s, and 
therefore it w r as impossible to prevent a recruiting of the 
army of inebriates. Rev. Thomas Mayhew wrote from 
Martha's Vineyard, in 1678, to the Jommissioners of the 
United Colonies : 

" Drunkenness is severely punished in every place. It is 

* Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. I. chap. I. II.; 
Vol. II. Chap. XIY. 

f See the story as graphically told by Charles Francis Adams, 
Jr., with full references to the sources of information, in the 
Atlantic Monthly Magazine for May and June, 1877. 



188 Alcohol in History. 

strange to see how readyly they stripp themselves to receive 
punishment for this sin of which our nation is much guylty. 
All vessels that com hither and passe through the Sound, Roade 
Islanders and some of our Inhabitants, doe supply them, and it's 
very hard to take them. I am not out of hope that the gene- 
rality will be convinced of their folly and gyve it quite over, 
that is the use of rum." * 

Gov. Winthrop, in 1630, " upon consideration of the in- 
conveniences which had grown in England by drinking 
healths one to another, restrained it at his own table, and 
wished otheis to do the like, so as it grew, by little and lit- 
tle, to disuse." t 

" In 1639, the General Court attempted by an order " to abol- 
ish that vain custom of drinking one to another, and that upon 
these and other grounds : 1. It was a thing of no good use : 2. 
It was an inducement to drunkenness, and occasion of quarrel- 
ling and bloodshed. 3. It occasioned much waste of wine and 
beer. 4. It was very troublesome to many, especially the masters 
and mistresses of the feast, who were forced thereby to drink 
more oft than they would, <fce. Yet divers (even godly persons) 
were very loath to part with this idle ceremony, though (when 
disputation was tendered) they had no life, nor indeed could 
find any arguments, to maintain it. Such power hath custom 
&c." t 

There is good reason to believe, although the mention of 
dealing with and punishing intemperate persons, occurs 
several times both in the Massachusetts and the Plymouth 
Records, that drunkenness was not common during the early 
period of the Xew England Colonies. Increase Mather, 
D.D., preached and published "Two Sermons Testifying 
Against the Sin of Drunkenness," in 1673. In the " Note 
to the Reader " prefixed to the second edition, 1712, he 
said : " There was a time when a man might live seven 
years in New England, and not see a drunken man." And 
in one of the sermons : 

* The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 
IV p. 17 
1 Winthrop's History of New England, Vol. I. p. 37. 
Jlbid, p. 324. 



Intemperance in the United States. 189 

11 Time was when there was no need for Ministers to preach 
much against this sin in New England. Oh ! that it was so now. 
.... It is sad that ever this serpent should creep over into 
this wilderness, where threescore years ago he never had any 
footing. . . . Some there are amongst us (who they are the 
Lord knowetk), out of covetousness have sold intoxicating 
liquors to the poor Indians." Prj. 33-35. 

In "A Serious Address to those who unnecessarily 
Frequent the Tavern," written by Cotton Mather, D.D., 
and published by himself and twenty-two other ministers, 
in 1726, there is the following allusion to the customs of 
their fathers : 

" The practice we are now reproving, isn't it what your pious 
forefathers were very much strangers to ? Yourselves know 
how ye ought to be followers of them. . . . Did they (think 
you) so frequent Drinking-Houses, and customarily trifle away 
their evenings there as many now-a-days do ? . . . . May you 
not well hlush to think how their example rej>roaches you, and 
what a different figure (in this regard) you make from them?" 

In this address eight reasons are offered and enlarged 
upon why the people should be dissuaded from frequenting 
such places : 

" It is a very faulty mispence of time ; no good account can 
be given of the money that goes to support the expense ; it 
occasions much vain conversation; they are put in the way 
of temptation and exposed to many dangers ; it ill-affects their 
spiritual and best interests ; obstructs family order and relig- 
ion ; the example is of ill-influence, and hurtful to others; it 
is a great grief to your ministers, who watch for your souls." 

To show that even at that time Church Members incurred 
discipline for frequenting taverns, there is appended to the 
Address, a Letter of Dr. Increase Mather, then recently 
deceased, in answer to the following question : u Whether 
it be lawful for a Church-Member among us to be frequently 
in Taverns ? " Four answers are given, and reasons adduced 
for each. The answers were : 

" It is not lawful for a Church-Member to be in Taverns often- 
er than necessity calleth for it. For Church-Members to trans- 



190 Alcohol in History. 

act tlieir Civil Affairs in the Tavern, when they might as well 
do it in their own houses, is an Evil in the Sight of God. It is 
not unlawful for a Church Memher to go into a Tavern, when 
the business of his Civil calling does necessarily call him there. 
If a Church Member be necessitated to be in a Tavern, he ought 
to carry himself circumspectly." 

In those days ale or beer, and wine, were the chief intox- 
icants known to the colonies. There were, however, im- 
ported and domestic distilled liquors in use, both in the 
Plymouth and in the Massachusetts colony. In the latter, 
the General Court in December, 1661, passed a law that "ISTo 
person shall practice this craft of stilling strong water, nor 
shall sell or retail any by lesser quantity than a quarter 
caske." And in 1688, the Treasurer was authorized "to rent, 
set, or farme let the Impost of wine, brandy and rhum, and 
the rates upon beere, cider, ale and mum." * In Plymouth 
Colony a law was made in 1662, that " All persons that doe 
or shall still any strong waters, shall give account of their 
disposal of them, both of the quantity and the persons to 
whom sold." f 

As early as 1650, an attempt to land rum in Connecticut, 
was made and resisted. The Swedish settlers on the Dela- 
ware were great brewers and drinkers of beer $ and the 
Dutch, on Long Island, in 1644, were so addicted to the 
use of malt liquor, that James, Duke of York and Albany, 
issued an ordinance against its manufacture and use. And 
as early as this, the Dutch on the Delaware, manufactured 
distilled liquors, with such evil results that on the arrival 
of D'Hinoyossa, at Altona, in 1663, he " prohibits distilling 
and brewing in the colony, even for domestic use ; he means 
to extend it to the Swedes." f Just previous to this pro- 
hibition, and probably the chief occasion for it, some of the 
soldiers of the colony had been grossly intoxicated, and 
committed great outrages both on the whites and the In- 

* Massachusetts Colony Kecords, Yol. IY. Part II. pp. 37, 368. 

* Plymouth Colony Records, Yol. XL p. 136. 
X Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania, p. 356. 



Intemperance in the United States. 191 

dians.* Only the year before, the Director, himself, had 
taken away the palisades of the fort, and burned them in 
his brewery. t In Gov. Dougan's Report to the Committee 
of Trade on the Province of New York, in 1687, mention is 
made that rum, brandy and other distilled liquors were im- 
ported, and yielded a revenue. J And in 1691 flour is sent 
from the same Province u to the West Indies, and there is 
brought in returne from thence, amongst other things, a 
liquor called Rumm, the duty whereof considerably increa- 
seth your Majesties revenue."§ 

About this time emigrants were flocking to our shores in . 
large numbers, and drinking spread rapidly. The descrip- 
tion which Dr. John Watson gives of the early settlement 
of Buckingham and Solebury, in Pennsylvania, is probably 
applicable to other localities. 

"It is probable that the first settlers used, spirits principally 
to prevent tlie bad effects of drinking water, to which they had 
not been accustomed in Europe. They imagined the air and 
water of this hot climate to be unwholesome. The immediate 
bad effect of cold water, when heated with exercise in summer, 
and the fevers and agues which seized many in the autumn, 
confirmed them in this ox)inion ; and not having conveniences to 
make beer that would keep in hot weather, they at once adopted 
the practise of the laboring peox^le in the West Indies, and drank 
rum. This being countenanced by general opinion, and 
brought into general practice as far as their limited ability 
would admit, bottles of rum were handed about at vendues, and 
mixed and stewed spirits were repeatedly given to those who 

attended funerals At births many good women 

were collected ; wine or cordial waters were esteemed suitable 
to the occasion for the guests ; but besides these, rum, either 
buttered or made into hot-tiff, was believed to be essentially 
necessary for the lying-in woman. The tender infant must be 
straightly rolled round the waist with a linen swathe, and 
loaded with clothes until he could scarcely breathe ; and when 
unwell or fretful, was dosed with spirit and water stewed with 

* Ibid, p. 301. 

t Ibid, p. 335. 

X Documentary History of New York, Vol. I. pp. 147-189. 

$ Ibid, p. 407. 



192 Alcohol in History. 

spicery As money was scarce, end laborers few, and 

business often to be done that required many hands, friends and 
neighbors were commonly invited to raisings of houses and 
barns, grubbing, chopping, and rolling logs, that required to be 
done in haste to get in the crop in season. Earn and a dinner 

were provided on these occasions Rum was drunk 

in proportion to the hurry of business, and long intervals of rest 
employed in merry and sometimes angry conversation. . . . 
A considerable degree of roughness and rusticity of mind and 
manners prevailed, and for some time increased in the genera- 
tions that succeeded the first settlers. For this I shall call to 
view several reasons ; . . . . but more than all, the free 
use of rum at vendues, at frolics, and in hay time and harvest." * 

The first thirty years of the eighteenth century witnessed 
constantly increasing drunkenness. Yv 7 est India rum was 
the principal intoxicant, which every year came in more 
plentifully, as flour, lumber, and general produce could be 
furnished in exchange, commodities which the West Indians 
must have, and which they came to rely on the American 
Colonies to furnish. But quite early in the century, distil- 
leries were established in various parts of North America, 
and so numerously in Massachusetts, — the famous Medford 
Rum being made as early as 1735, — that in 1748 complaint 
was made by the planters of Yv T est India that the distillers 
of Massachusetts were carrying on a direct trade with France 
and other European countries, to their own immediate ad- 
vantage, and against the interests of the mother country. 
To the commissioners appointed by Parliament to investi- 
gate this charge, the authorities of Massachusetts made a 
lengthy reply, in the course of which, they said : 

" Rum is the chief manufacture in Massachusetts ; there 
being upward of 15,000 hogsheads of rum manufactured in the 
Province annually. This, with what they get from the English 
Islands, is the grand support of all their trades and fishery; 
without which they can no longer subsist. Rum is a standing 
article in the Indian trade, and the common drink of all the 
laborers, timber men, mast men, loggers and fishermen in the 

* Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. I. 
pp. 296-299. _ 



Intemperance in the United States. 193 

ProYince Paim is the merchandise principally made 

use of to procure corn and pork, for their fishermen and other 
navigation. The best and cheapest provision in this way of 

life The rum carried from Massachusetts Bay, and the 

other northern colonies to the coast of Guinea, is exchanged for 
gold and slaves." * 

In consequence of this great flood of liquors, drinking 
places increased, and from 1702 on, for many years, licenses 
to sell allowed the trade to be carried on both within doors 
and without. t In a Fast Sermon, preached April, 1753, by 
Rev. Andrew Eliot, " ? Tis surprising," he said, u what pro- 
digious sums are expended for spirituous liquors in this one 
poor Province. If things are not greatly exaggerated, more 
than a million of our old currency in a year."$ 

Nor was it in Massachusetts alone, that this evil grew. 
Of Huntington County, Pennsylvania, settled in 1754, it is 
said that : 

" The deadly practice of drinking whiskey prevailed among 
our whole community, among Judges of the Courts, members of 
the bar, ministers of the gospel, physicians and patients, far- 
mers and mechanics, servants and laborers. It was used when 
we were born, when we were buried ; when we rose in the 
morning, when we went to bed at night; before dinner and 
after dinner ; when we were full and when we were hungry ; 
when we were sick and when we were well ; when Ave were 
cold and when we were hot. It was the universal panacea." § 

In 1744 the Grand Jury of Philadelphia, of which Ben- 
jamin Franklin was a member, made the following present- 
ment : 

"The Grand Jury do therefore still think it their Duty to 
complain of the enormous increase of Publick Houses in Phila- 
delphia, especially since it now appears by the Constable's 
Eeturns that there are upwards of one hundred that have 
Licenses which, with the Retailers, make the Houses that sell 

* Minot's Continuation of the History of the Province of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, Vol. I. pp. 155, 157. 
t Drake's History of Boston, p. 525. 
tlbid, p. 6 5. 

§ Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 409. 
13 



194 Alcohol in History. 

strong drink by our Computation near a tenth part of the City, 
a Proportion thut appears to us much too great, since by their 
number they impoverish oue another, as well as the neighbor- 
hood they live in ; and for the want of better customers, may 
thro' necessity, be under greater temptations to entertain Ap- 
prentices, Servants and even Kegroes. The Jury therefore are 
glad to hear from the Lcnch that the Magistrates are become 
sensible of this evil, and purpose to apply a remedy ; for which 

they svill deserve the Thanks of all good Citizens The 

Jury observed with concern in the Course of Evidence, that a 
neighborhood in which some of these disorderly houses are, is 
so generally thought to be vitiated, as to obtain among the com- 
mon people the shocking name of JSell Town." * 

Acrolius,hi Lis History of New Sweden, published £u 1759, 
enumerates forty-eight drinks 'then in use in North America, 
forty- three of which were intoxicating. f 

The war with the French Colonies, which lasted nearly 
ten years, closing in 1759, contributed no little, as all wars 
do, to the demoralization and drunkenness of the people. 
The colonies furnished large numbers of troops, to whom the 
English government, as was then its custom, dealt out rum 
as rjart of the regular rations. In addition to this supply, 
rum sellers followed the army wherever it moved, establish- 
ing themselves in proximity to the camps, to the serious 
detriment of the service. Measures of extreme severity 
were resorted to for the suppression of this traffic, even to 
the inflicting of twenty lashes per day on the soldiers who 
should become intoxicated on the contraband liquor, for the 
purpose of forcing a disclosure of the name of the person 
who furnished it 5 but in many cases with no desired results. 
The allowed supply created a thirst for more, which not 
only braved all penally, but also formed habits which the 
soldiers did not throw off on their returning to civil life. 
With what ruin to the morals of the people, and to the po- 
litical interests of the colonies in the critical times then ra- 

* Ibid, p. 268. 

t Memoirs of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. XI. 
pp. 160, 164. 



Intemperance in the United States. 195 

pidly hastening on, these habits were formed, we may learn 
from many sources. The Diary of John Adams, under date 
of February 29, 1760, gives a striking instance : 

u At the present day, licensed houses are becoming the eter- 
nal haunt of loose, disorderly people of the same town, which 
renders them offensive, and unlit for the entertainment of a 
traveller of the least delicacy ; and it seems that poverty 
and distressed circumstances are become the strongest argu- 
ments to procure an approbation ; and for these assigned rea- 
sons, such multitudes have been late licensed that none can 
afford to make provisions for any but the tippling, nasty, vic- 
ious crew that most frequent them. The consequences of these 
abuses are obvious. Young people are tempted to waste their 
time and money, and to acquire habits of intemperance and 
idleness, that we often see reduce many to beggary and vice, 
and lead some of them, at last, to prison and the gallows. 
The reputation of our country is ruined among strangers, who 
are apt to infer the character of a place from that of the taverns 
and the people they see there. But the worst effect of all, and 
which ought to make every man who has the least sense of his 
privileges tremble, these houses are become, in many places, the 
nurseries of our legislators. An artful man, who has neither 
sense nor sentiment, may, by gaining a little sway among the 
rabble of a town, multiply taverns and dram-shops, and there- 
by secure the votes of taverner, and retailer, and of all ; and the 
multiplication of taverns will make many, who may be induced 
by flip and rum, to vote for any man whatever. I dare not pre- 
sume to point out any method to suppress or restrain these in- 
creasing evils, but I think, for these reasons, it would be well 
worth the attention of our Legislature to confine the number 
of, and retrieve the character of, licensed houses, lest that im- 
piety, and profaneness, that abandoned intemperance and pro- 
digality, that impudence and brawling temper, which these 
abominable nurseries daily propagate, should arise at length to 
a degree of strength that even the Legislature will not be able 
to control." * 

But he made an attempt at reform, though he soon gave 
up in despair. " I applied," he says, " to the Court of Ses- 
sions, procured a Committee of Inspection and Inquiry, re- 
duced the number of licensed houses, etc.; but I only 

♦Works of John Adams, Vol. II. p. 84. 



196 Alcohol in History. 

acquired the reputation of a hypocrite and an ambitious 
demagogue by it. The number of licensed houses was soon 
reinstated ; drams, grog, and sotting were not diminished."* 
Rev. S. Kirkland, thus describes the manner of keeping 
Christmas on the Mohawk, N. Y., in 17G9 : 

" They generally assemble for read'g prayers, or Divine ser- 
vice — but after they eat, drink and make merry. They allow 
of no work or servile labor on ys day and ye follow'g — their 
servants are free —but drink'g, swear'g, fight'g and frolic'g are 
not only allowed, but seem to be essential to ye joy of ye 
day." t 

In those days, events which were to culminate in the In- 
dependence of the Colonies, were hurrying on, some of the 
incidents relating thereto being greatly aggravated by the 
intemperance of those whose presence as an armed guard 
over the people was daily widening the breach between the 
Government and its subjects. The King's troops were in 
Boston, and were often intoxicated. 

H Some outrage was complained of every day, and the nights 
were rendered hideous by drunken brawls and revels. The reg- 
ular Town-watch were insulted during their rounds, and invad- 
ed in their watch-houses in the night. Distilled spirits were so 
cheap that the soldiers could easily command them ; and hence 
scenes of drunkenness and debauchery were constantly exhibi- 
ted before the people, vastly to the prejudice of the morals of 
the young. As a remedy for such conduct, the equally demor- 
alizing exhibition of whippings was put in practice." t 

The Bevolutionary struggle which soon followed led to 
new . supplies and extended use of intoxicants. Before 
that event, except in New England, and by a few small pri- 
vate stills established in other localities, the country was 
wholly dependent on, as it was deluged with, West India 
rum. The w T ar cut off all foreign supply, and at once dis- 
tilleries arose in all directions. The waste of grain being 
enormous, the prospect of famine in the army created general 

* Ibid, Vol. IX. p. 657. 

t Documentary History of New York, Vol. IV. p. 1059* 

i Drake's History of Boston, p* 725; 



Intemperance in the United States. 197 

alarm. "Washington denounced in severest terms the gen- 
eral dissipation which followed, and many of the clergy, 
taking up the alarm, spoke from the pulpit against the fear- 
ful waste of grain, and the moral curse to the country, as 
well as the danger of want, that was imminent. 

Congress, in session in Philadelphia, in February, 1777, 
unanimously : 

"Resolved, That it be recommended to the several legisla- 
tures in the United States immediately to pass laws the most 
effective for putting an immediate stop to the pernicious prac- 
tice of distilling grain, by which the most extensive evils are 
likely to be derived if not quickly prevented." 

Pennsylvania took vigorous measures to crush the evil, 
in 1779, by laying an embargo on the exportation of wheat 
and flour, % and prohibiting the distillation of all kinds of 
grain or meal ; but before long the gates of destruction were 
again thrown wide open by an exception being made in favor 
of barley and rye. The paper money created to meet im- 
mediately pressing demands, so rapidly depreciated that the 
existence of the army was jeopardized, and Congress, in 1780, 
called on the states to provide in some way to make up the 
deficiency. New Jersey and Pennsylvania attempted it by 
placing an excise duty on the stills. In the former state 
the attempt to apply the law met with such uniform opposi- 
tion that it was wholly defeated. In Pennsylvania, where 
such an excise had been for some time established, and had 
yielded not far from $16,000 per annum, Robert Morris, the 
great financier of the times, offered to farm it at $300,000. 

After the close of the war various efforts were made to 
diminish the evil of drinking : 

" l Upwards of two hundred of the most respectable farmers 
of the County of Litchfield, Connecticut, formed (in 1789) an as- 
sociation to discourage the use of spirituous liquors, and deter- 
mined not to use any kind of distilled liquors in doing their 
farming work the ensuing season.' The following year, 1790, a 
volume of sermons, supposed to have been written by Dr. Kush, 
was published in Philadelphia, which awakened such an inter- 
est among the medical men of that city, that on December 



198 Alcohol in History. 

29, 1790 tliey sent a memorial to Congress, in which they said : 
'They rejoice to find, among the powers that belong to this 
Government, that of restraining by certain duties the consump- 
tion of distilled spirits in our country. It belongs more pecu- 
liarly to men of other x>rofessions to enumerate the pernicious 
effects of these liquors upon morals and manners. Your memo- 
rialists will only remark, that a great portion of the most obsti- 
nate, painful, and mortal disorders which afflict the human 
body, are produced by distilled spirits ; and they are not only 
destructive to health and life, but they impair the faculties of 
the mind, and thereby tend equally to dishonor our character 
as a nation and degrade our species as intelligent beings. 

' Your memorialists have no doubt that the rumor of a plague 
or other pestilential disorder, which might sweep away thous- 
ands of theii fellow-citizens, would produce the most vigorous 
and effective measures in our Government to prevent or subdue 
it. 

' Your memorialists can see no just cause why the more cer- 
tain and extensive ravages of distilled spirits upon life should 
not be guarded against with corresponding vigilance and exer- 
tion by the present rulers of the United States. . . . Your 

memorialists have beheld with regret the feeble influence of rea- 
son and religion in restraining the evils which they have enu- 
merated. ..... They thus publicly entreat the Congress, 

by their obligations to protect the lives of their constituents, 
and by their regard to the character of our nation and to the 
rank of our species in tbe scale of being, to impose such heavy 
duties upon all distilled spirits as shall be effectual to restrain 
their intemperate use in our country. ' " * 

In Mareh,1791, Congress passed a general excise law, from 
which Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasu- 
ry, expected a revenue of $820,000. Western Pennsyl- 
vania, largely settled by emigrants from the north of Ire- 
land, — famous whiskey drinkers, — was more extensively 
engaged in distilling than any other part of the country. 
u Upon a fair calculation, every sixth man became a distil- 
ler, but all equally bound to resist the excise law, which 
would fall heavily upon every fanner, as the money which 
they would procure in the east from the sale of their liquor 

* History of the Temperance Movement, by Rev. J. B. Dunn, 
D.D. Centennial Volume, pp. 423, 424. 



Intemperance in the United States. 199 

would, on their return, be demanded by the excise officer.* 
A public convention of the people, at Pittsburg, in Sept. 

1791, denounced the principle of excise as unjustly discrim- 
inating, and secret meetings in various parts of the disaf- 
fected counties determined on resistance by force of arms. 
Washington issued a Proclamation of warning against all 
who might be concerned in such resistance, but it produced 
no good result, the Marshal, while in the execution of his 
duty, being resisted by an armed force, and the Inspector, 
with the force collected for his defence, was attached and 
captured. The President then placed 14,000 troops under 
General Henry Lee, and the rebellion was at once quelled, 
so large a force overcoming all opposition, without the firing 
of a gun. 

From the 1st of July, 1791, to the 30th of September, 

1792, the aggregate amount of intoxicants distilled in the 
country was reported as 5,171,564 gallons. " The returns 
aforesaid were incomplete and below the truth. From some 
states they were made only for a part of the year. 77 f The 
aggregate amount of the Internal Revenue from 1792 to 
1798, was, from all sources, $4,308,383.59. Of which 
$3,201,150.58 was " On domestic distilled spirits, and on 
stills/ 7 and on "Licenses granted to retailers, $286,286. 95. 77 $ 

Nearly everybody drank, and the chief items in the ex- 
penses of town officials, religious conventions or associa- 
tions, ordinations of ministers, raising the frames of church 
edifices, or dedicating the completed churches, were generally 
for liquors furnished and consumed. " Two barrels of New 
England Rum 77 were among the articles which the Parish 
Committee of Xorth Carver, Mass., were ordered to procure 
for the use of the visitors invited to assist in raising the 
frame of their new Meeting House. " Eight barrels of 

* History of Washington County. By Alfred Greign, LL.D. 
Appendix, p. 61. 

t Statistical Annals of the United States, by Adam Seybert, 
M. J)., p. 460. 

tlbid, p. 477. 



200 Alcohol in History. 

Rum," are among the items of a bill in the writer's possession 
for extensive alterations, repairs and enlargement of a 
Church edifice in Boston, in 1792 ; and the following items 
are in the expenses of the auditing committee who exam- 
ined the accounts of a Church treasurer, at the close of a 
long term of service : 

" 1794. Oct. 14. 3 Bowls Punch, 12s. 

2 Bottles Wine, 8 

19. 5 Bowls Punch, £1. 

2 Bottles Wine, 8 

24. 3 Bowls Punch, 12 

2 Bottles Wine, 8 

Brandy, 2 2d. 

In Gloucester, the " expense for the Selectmen and Licker 
at the house of Mr. James Stevens," w T as £3. 185. 2c?. In a 
description of funeral customs in New York city in 1790, giv- 
en by the wife of the Rev. John Murray, occurs the follow- 
ing item : " Every person who attends the funeral, both 
within and without doors, is, previous to the interment, plen- 
tifully supplied with wine. A waiter is appointed to every 
room, and they are very attentive. Large quantities are 
often swallowed. Ten gallons of prime Madeira was late- 
ly expended at a funeral." 

The Menclon Association of Ministers, presided over by 
Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, regaled themselves with 
liquors as regularly as with food, until their meeting in 
October, 1826, when they : 

"Voted, that it be the rule of this association that no ardent 
spirits be presented at their meetings." The origin of this vote 
was given in the following incident : — The host of the associa- 
tion, the Rev. Jaines O. Barney, then of Seekonk, went into 
Providence on the day preceding the meeting, to procure the 
due assortment of spirits, which immemorial usage had made an 
important part of his preparation. 

"He accomplished his object, and at sunset commenced his 
return with a choice variety of liquors. Driving rapidly out 
of the city in his haste to reach home, he* was startled from his 
reverie by the loud laughter of some men upon the staging 
round a new house in the outskirts of the city. Instantly think- 



Intemperance in the United States. 201* 

ing of his freight, he looked behind him, when lo ! fragments of 
iugs, demijohns, and bottles, were dancing in and out the bas- 
ket, and a ruby stream of wines, brandies, and cordials, was al- 
laying the excited dust of the street. What was to be done ? 
Should he go back and replenish, or take it as a providential 
hint, and go on ? The lateness of the hour decided him to j:>ro- 
ceed, and to state the calamity to the venerable body when 
they should assemble. He did so, and they took the hint, and 
promptly banished the sideboard from their meetings. The 
Rev. Mr. Barney, from whom, in his advanced age, these facts 
were received, thus writes in closing his narration : 

' I have lived to see and watch the rise, progress, and blessed 
fruits of the temperance- cause; and what I once regarded as a 
calamity to me, in the loss of my liquor, God overruled to be one 
of the greatest favors He has conferred upon the clergy, the 
church, and the world/ " * 

-^ 

The following account, from an article in the Encyclo- 
paedia Americana, shows the custom of the people of the 
southern part of the United States, after the close of the 
war: 

" A fashion, at the south, was to take a glass of whiskey, 
flavored with mint, soon after waking ; and so conducive to 
health was this nostrum esteemed, that no sex, and scarcely any 
age, was deemed exempt from its application. At eleven o'clock, 
while mixtures under various peculiar names — sling, toddy, flip, 
etc., — solicited the appetite at the bar of the common tippling 
shop, the offices of professional men, and the counting-room, dis- 
missed their occupants for a half hour, to regale themselves at a 
neighbor's, or at a coffee-house, with punch, hot or cold, accord- 
ing to the season; and females, or valetudinarians, courted an ap- 
petite with medicated rum, disguised under the chaste name of 
1 'Huxham's Tincture," or "Stoughton's Elixir P The dinner hour 
arrived, according to the different customs of different districts 
of the country, whiskey and water, curiously flavored with ap- 
ples, or brrndy and water, introduced the feast; whiskey or 
brandy, with water, helped it through, and whiskey or brandy, 
without water, often secured its safe digestion, not again to be 
used in any more formal manner than for the relief of occasional 
thirst, or for the entertainment of a friend, until the last appeal 

*Life of E. N. Kirk, D.D. By Rev. David O. Mears, pp. 
80, 81. 



202 Alcohol in History. 

should be made to them to secure a sound night's sleep. Rum, 
seasoned with cherries, protected against the cold ; rum, made 
astringent with peach-meats, concluded the repast at the con- 
fectioner's ; rum made nutritious with milk, prepared for the 
maternal office ; and, under the Greek name of paregoric, rum, 
doubly poisoned with opium, quieted the infant's cries. Ko 
doubt there were numbers that did not use ardent spirits ; but it 
was not because they were not perpetually in their way. They 
were an established article of diet, almost as much as bread ; 
and, with very many, they were in much more frequent use. 

" The friend who did not testify his welcome, and the mas- 
ter who did not provide bountifully of them for his servants, 
was held niggardly; and there was no special meeting, not 
even of the most formal or sacred kind, where it was considered 
indecorous, scarcely any where it was not thought necessary to 
produce them. The consequence was, that what the great 
majority indulged in without scruple, large numbers indulged 
in without restraint. Sots were common of both sexes, various 
ages, and all conditions; and though no statistics of the vice 
were yet embodied, it was quite plain that it was constantly 
making large numbers bankrupt in character, property, and 
prospects, and inflicting on the community a vast amount of 
physical and mental ill in their worst forms." This picture of 
the south has no local coloring. " Everybody furnished and 
everybody drank intoxicating drinks, without shame, fear, or 
remorse. Every man, woman, and child viewed them as a lux- 
ury, an essential part of daily diet, the first expression of hos- 
pitality, the necessary accompaniment of labor, the best refresh- 
ment for the wearied traveller, the preventive of disease, the 
panacea of all ills, the j oy of youth, and the support and com- 
fort of old age. True, the loss of property in forty years, by the 
consumption of ardent spirits, had amounted to a greater sum 
than the value of all the houses and lands in the United States. 
True, scarcely a family was to be found in the land entirely 
disconnected with some miserable inebriate ; each town and 
village had its score of drunken husbands and fathers ; poor- 
houses groaned under their heavy burdens ; church and state 
often saw their brightest ornaments fallen, degraded, the sport 
of idle boys ; and year by year, from twenty to thirty thousand 
lost beings were hurried to the grave ; but this was only the 
incidental and unavoidable accompaniment." * 

"In 1810, the marshals returned 14,191 distilleries within the 

* Half Century Tribute to the Cause of Temperance, by Rev. 
John Marsh, p. 4. 



Intemperance in the United States. 203 

United States, and 22,977,167 gallons of spirits distilled during 
that year, from fruits and grains, beside 2,827,625 gallons dis- 
tilled from molasses, making an annual product of 25,704,892 
gallons, valued at $15,558,040. In the same year only 133,853 
gallons of domestic distilled spirits from grain, and 474,990 gal- 
lons from molasses, making an aggregate of 608,843 gallons were 
exported from the United States, leaving of that distilled dur- 
ing the year, 25,036,094 gallons for consumption. On the average 
of the ten years from 1803 to 1812 inclusive, 7,512,415 gallons of 
foreign distilled spirits were annually imported into the United 
States, of which there was annually re-exj)orted on the same 
average, only 679,322 gallons; it thence appears, that 31,929,142 
gallons of spirits remained within the United States in 1810, 
which, if consumed in the year, was equal to four and one 
quarter gallons for each inhabitant." * To produce that which 
was distilled in this country, between five and six millions of 
bushels of rye and corn must have been made into spirits." f 

As the Temperance Reformation, — started about 1810 — 
progressed and gained attention, statistics began to be 
gathered from other sources, which disclosed the fearful ex- 
tent and havoc of our drinking customs. Hartley showed 
that for fifteen years from the last war with Great Britain, the 
people of the United States had consumed on an average, 
every year more than 80,500,000 gallons of distilled spirits, 
at an annual cost of not less than $35,500,000. Barbour, 
in his Statistics of Intemperance in Churches, showed that 
out of 1634 cases of discipline whose history had been traced, 
more than 800 were for intemperance and more than 400 
for immoralities occasioned by the use of intoxicants. Rev. 
Leonard Woods, D.D., stated in 1836 : 

" That, at a period prior to the Temperance Reformation, he 
was able to count up nearly forty ministers, none of whom re- 
sided at a great distance, who were either drunkards, or so far 
addicted to intemperate drinking, that their reputation and 
usefulness were injured, if not utterly ruined. He mentions 
also, an ordination that took place about twenty years ago, at 

* Say bert's Statistical Annals, p. 463. 

t Pitkin's Statistical View of the Commerce of the United 
States, p. 122. 



204 Alcohol in History. 

which he was ashamed and grieved to see two aged ministers lit- 
erally drunk ; and a third indecently excited by strong drink." 

Thomas Jefferson, near the close of Ms life, gave em- 
phatic testimony to the mischievous effects of drinking on 
political affairs, and is reported to have said : 

" During my administration I had more trouble from men 
■who used ardent spirits than from all others whatever ; and 
were I to go through my administration again, the first ques- 
tion I would ask of every candiate for office should be, Does he 
use ardent spirits ? " 

The Secretary of War stated, that " during 1830, nearly 
1000 men deserted from the army, and that nearly all the 
desertions were caused by drink j and that from 1823 to 
1829, nearly 800 deserted annually, or one-seventh of the 
whole army, from the same cause." 

The Attorney-General of the United States published 
statistics in 1832 showing that the cost of spirit-drinking in 
the United States was $100,000,000 per year. More ac- 
curate estimates followed, making the total $150,000,000, 
which, with our population at 13,000,000, made the cost 
per capita, $11.50. Mr. Hopkins gathered up the statistics 
of crime chargeable to ardent spirits, at a cost of 
$6,525,000.* 

The Temperance reformers having devoted their energies 
during the first twenty years of their organized work, wholly 
to efforts for the disuse of distilled liquors, becoming 
apologists for, and, — as we shall see in the next chapter, — 
sometimes advocating the use of fermented drinks, took no 
note of the intemperance caused by fermented beverages. 
They thus crippled their own efforts, and in many instances, 
as they afterwards saw, increased, instead of diminishing 
intemperance. When at last, they turned their attention 
to total abstinence from all that intoxicates, a field almost 
entirely new was open to them ; a field whose fruitfulness 

* Dr. Barton's Discourse on Temperance, at New Orleans, 
1837, pp. 11, 12. 



Iniaiipei ance in the United States. 205 

in mischief we are in no danger of over-estimating, and 
which, in spite of earnest, constant and greatly varied effort, 
still lies before us with its sad harvests of incalculable mis- 
chief and misery. Except in a few localities, where the 
liquor traffic is put and kept under the ban of the law, 
drunkenness prevails in our land and thoroughly demoralizes 
both our politics and our religion. 

The yearly influx of thousands of foreigners with wdiiskcy 
and beer-loving proclivities ; the opening of new lands by 
our own adventurers ; the lust for gain ; the mad ambition 
for party supremacy in politics ) have made us too willing 
to allow, then to foster, and at last to risk ail in perpetuat- 
ing this gigantic crime of crimes. We have made even 
our Christian enterprises the occasion for the triumph of 
anti-Christ, and brought down on our heads the curses of 
the heathen, to whom we have sent, — and in the same ships 
with the Gospel preachers, who were to save them, — the 
vilest and most ruinous intoxicants that w r ere ever made. 
And that we may secure a partizan triumph, having in most 
cases, only inconsequential ends in view by its supremacy, 
we cater to the worst elements in society, the vilest traffic 
that man can engage in, and suffer our Government officials, 
unrebuked, to counsel with distillers and brew T ers as to how 
legislation shall be framed in order to give the greatest 
facility for the continuance and growth of " the gigantic 
crime of the age." 

As a consequence, we are fostering intemperance, and 
that is but another way of saying, we are debauching the 
nation ; impoverishing the many, for the enrichment of a 
few ) increasing crime ; destroying morality, and putting 
our religion to an open shame. Our national liquor bill is 
simply enormous. For thirteen years, from 1860 to 1872 
inclusive, we have paid the sum of $6,780,101,805, for 
2,762,926,006 gallons of liquors on which the General Gov- 
ernment has received a revenue. It is not too much to 
say, — in view of the whiskey frauds, and the brewers' frauds 
pn tlie Treasury, — we have consumed as much more that the 



206 Alcohol in History. 

government received nothing for. Internal Revenue Com- 
missioner "Weils, said on the floor of the Brewers' Conven- 
tion, in October, 1865 : " By statistical reports it lias been 
proven that six millions of barrels of beer are brewed an- 
nually, whilst only two and. one-half millions Lad paid tax." 

In 1878, tlie total revenue receipts of the National 
Government from distilled and fermented liquors, was 
$60,357,867.58. Annually we are consuming 20,000,000 
busiiels of corn, and nearly 39,000,000 busiiels of barley 
in our distilled and fermented drinks. One brewery 
reports an annual production of 4,225,000 gallons of beer, — 
more than four-fifths of all the manufactured intoxicants of 
the United States, reported to the Internal Revenue Bureau 
for fifteen months from July, 1791, to September, 1792. 

A Milwaukee paper states that the retail price of beer 
and whiskey manufactured in that city during the year end- 
ing July 1, 1878, was $21,336,000,— nearly five times the 
sum received by the United States Internal Revenue from 
all sources from 1792 to 1798. This being so, we need not 
wonder at the report which comes to us from Chicago, one 
of the chief markets for Milwaukee intoxicants, that promi- 
nent police officers stated at a public meeting in that city, 
not long since, that nine-tenths of all criminal cases there, 
including those of juveniles, grow out of the use of liquor j 
and that many of the drinking saloons could not exist if it 
were not for the boys and girls that patronize them. 

The New York Evening Post, commenting on a recent 
article in the London Gentleman' } s Magazine, written by a 
distinguished physician, in regard to the growing disposition 
of many English women of every class to " habitually over- 
stimulate," reminds its readers that ^ the habits of Kew 
York and of London are in this wise very similar ; n and 
adds : " There is certainly more drinking in society — 
among both sexes — than before our Civil War. The statis- 
tics show a formidable increase in the consumption of 
spirituous liquors in the United States, and this consumption 
is not confined to saloons, hotels, and the jugs of the work- 



Intemperance in the United States. 207 

ing classes." This is too true ; the sources of supply, and 
the numerous classes indulging in the use of intoxicants 
being alarmingly on the increase. Druggists are becoming 
liquor sellers on a large scale; a careful writer in the 
Western Christian Advocate estimating that " not less than 
5,400,000 gallons of whiskey are sold annually by the 
druggists of the United States," and in addition to this, the 
drug-store traffic in u brandies, cordials, wines, bitters, and 
other forms of intoxicating drinks, sold in the name of med- 
icine, will amount to 10,000,000 gallons more." That any 
considerable portion of this is desired as medicine, or sup- 
posed to be sought as medicine, is not entitled to belief. 
Our condition with reference to the use of intoxicants, and 
to the ease with which they can be obtained, never was more 
critical than it is at the present time. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Annual Cost of Intoxicants to the Leading Nations, and to 
the World — The Connection of Intemperance with Crime, 
Prostitution, Pauperism, Physical Decay, Mental Disease 
and Heredity. 

COST OF INTOXICANTS.— The exact cost of in- 
toxicating drinks in the United States, and in other 
parts of the world, through a series of years, it is not possi- 
ble to arrive at ; but an approximation can be made. Rev. 
T. F. Parker has carefully compiled statistics from the best 
authorities, and presents this result, which is as nearly 
correct as figures setting forth this matter can be : 

Liquors consumed in the United States : 

Spirituous liquors, .... 69 , 572, 062 gallons annually. 

Beer, ...... 279,74^,044 " " 

Imported wines, . . . 10,700,000 " " 

Liquors consumed in Great Britain : 

Spirituous liquors, . . . 33,090,377 gallons annually. 

Beer and ale, . . . 906,340,399 u " 

Foreign and British wines, . . 17,144,539 " " 

Liquors consumed in Germany : 

Beer, 146,000,000 gallons annually. 

Wine, 121,000,000 " " 

Liquors consumed in France : 

Spirituous liquors, .... 27,000,000 gallons annually. 

Beer, 51,800,000 " " 

Wine, 600,000,000 " " 

(208) 



Cost of Intoxicants. 



209 



We estimate that the world consumes twice as much as these 
four nations : 



Spirituous liquors, 

Beer, 

AY hie, 



314,031,882 gallons annually. 
. 2,797,291,632 " " 

. 1,482,239,914 " " 

Cost of liquors in the world in ten years, $64,405,042,234, or 
twice the value of the United States of America. Allowing the 
average value of the world, per square mile, to equal the United 
States, and every one hundred and twenty years the actual cash 
value of the world is consumed in these drinks. 

The materials used in the manufacture are annually as follows : 





Bushels of 


Bushels of 






Grain. 


Grapes. 


Value. 


United States, 


39,349,520 


2,364,312 


$42,895,984 


Great Britain and 








Ireland, 


63,929,550 


3,784,246 


69,605,920 


Germany, 


9,125,000 


34,714,285 


61,196,428 


France, 


9,237,500 


171,428,571 


366,380,357 


The World, . 


. 242,971,145 


432,634,261 


891,922,536 



The cost in France and Germany would be modified by the 
cost of grapes, which are much cheaper there. 

The land, buildings, machinery, labor, etc., invested in the 
traffic is about as follows : 







Buildings 








Acres. and 


Labor. 






Machinery. 




United States, 




903,414 $74,041,044 


$9,405,104 


Great Britain 


and 






Ireland, 


. 


1,629,773 92,116,883 


15,271,432 


Germany, 




517,410 46,120,535 


6,304,892 


France, . 


. 


1,576,017 19J,967,633 


27,929,283 


The World, . 


. 


9,253,223 746,488,070 


117,821,020 






Value of 


Total 






L.nd. 


Investment. 


United States, 


. 


$45,170,500 


128,616,848 


Great Britain and Ireland, 


81,488,650 


188,876,905 


Germany, 


• 


25,870,000 


78,895,427 


France, . 


. 


78,800,850 


297,697,766 


The World, . 


. 


432,660,400 : 


L,326,9J9,49.3 



Cost of alcoholic drinks in the United States annually : 

Direct outlay for drink, $725,407,028 

Seven per cent, on the $10,000,000,000 which the 
nation should possess, but has been destroyed 

by the traffic, . 700,000,000 

14 



210 Alcohol in History. 

Direct loss of wages, 7,903,844 

Ten per cent, on capital employed in the manu- 
facture, 25,848,081 

Ten per cent, on capital employed in saloons, . 86,254,700 

Charity bestowed on the poor, .... 14,000,000 

Loss by sea and land, 50,000,000 

Court, police, hospital expenses, charity, litiga- 
tion, insurance, 207,200,550 

Total, . $1,806,042,203 

" In return for this," says Mr. Parker, " the nation receives : 
500 murders, 500 suicides, 100,000 criminals, 200, 000 paupers, 60,- 
000 deaths from drunkenness, 600,000 besotted drunkards, 600,000 
moderate drinkers, who will be sots ten years hence, 500,000 
homes destroyed, 1,000,000 children worse than orphaned. And if 
the country should be searched from centre to circumference, it 
would be impossible to find any good resulting from the traffic, 
or a single reason why it should exist longer." 

In The Western Brewer, for October, 1880, is the fol- 
lowing : " Prof. Thausing has compiled the following sta- 
tistics of beer production for the year 1879, in hectolitres : 

Countries. Quantities brewed. 

German Empire 38,946,510 hect. 

Great Britain 36,597,550 " 

United States 15,400,000 " 

Austro-Hungary 11,184,681 " 

France 8,721,000 " 

Belgium 7,854,000 " 

Russia 2,300,000 " 

Holland 1,600,000 " 

Denmark 1,160,000 " 

Sweden 960,000 " 

Italy 870,000 " 

Switzerland 724,000 " 

Norway 615,000 " 

In all, 120,842,741 hectolitres (2,660,000,000 imp. galls.), among 
332,000,000 people. The average consumption was largest in 
Belgium, 147 litres per head ; and smallest in Russia, 3 litres 
per head." 

In the November number, it adds : " Official statistics 
show that in 1879 there were brewed in Bavaria 11,925,345 



Cost of Intoxicants. 211 

hcct. of beer, of which 651,431 hect. were exported. The 
import 3 amounted to 16,104 hcct. The consumption during 
the year was at the rate of 225 litres per head of the popu- 
lation." A litre being .946 of a quart, the consumption 
per head in Belgium is 35 gallons ; and in Bavaria, 53 gal- 
lons per head. 

These figures, representing quantity and cost, are appal- 
ling. Consider then, the fact that the Temperance cause 
has done not a little to diminish the consumption of intoxi- 
cants in all these countries, and think what a vast amount 
of worse than worthless beverages have been made and con- 
sumed in the last one hundred years, and at what an expense 
of values, and the mind is confounded in its effort to grasp 
and realize either. We had prepared several tables of sta- 
tistics, gleaned from various sources, but none of them can 
begin to set forth the truth in its awfulness. Turn back to 
the sketch already -given of the History of Intemperance 
through long series of years in so many countries, and then 
grasp, if you can, on the basis of the figures just given, an 
idea of the cost, quantity, and waste, involved in this fear- 
ful traffic. 

It may help in our effort to approximate the facts in this 
case, to take a very careful statement made by Hon. Henry 
TV. Blair, of Xew Hampshire, in the House of Representa- 
tives, Washington, December 27th, 1876. Much of what 
he says is true of all the nations using intoxicants, — bearing 
in mind, of course, their relative population and the statis- 
tics before given in regard to their annual consumption of 
distilled and fermented liquors. Mr. Blair said : 

" I now desire to present in the best manner I can a statement 
of facts bearing upon tlie effect of the manufacture and use of 
intoxicating liquors on the wealth, industries, and productive 
powers of the nation; also upon its ignorance, pauperism, and 
crime. I have endeavored to authenticate every statement by 
careful inquiry. The information is drawn from tlie census re- 
turns, from records of the Departments of Government, reports 
of State authorities, declarations from prominent statisticians 
and responsible gentlemen in different parts of the country. 



212 Alcohol in History. 

Much of it is to be found, with a great deal more of similar mat- 
ter, ill a very valuable book published the present year. The 
author is William Hargreaves, M. D., of Philadelphia. No one 

who has not fought with figures, like Paul of old with the beasts 
at EphesuSj knows how it taxes the utmost powers of man to 
classify, condense, and present intelligibly to the mind the 
mathematical or statistical demonstration of these tremendous 
social and economic facts. The truths they teach involve the 
fate of modern civilization. 

" In 1870 the tax collected by the Internal Revenue Depart- 
ment was upon 72,425,353 gallons of proof spirits and 6,081,520 
barrels of fermented liquors. Commissioner Delano estimates 
the consumption of distilled spirits in 1869 at 80,000,000 gallons. 
By the census returns, June 1, 1860, there were produced in the 
United States 90,412,581 gallons of domestic spirits — and of 
course this was consumed, with large amounts imported besides 
— but there are very large items which escape the official enu- 
meration. These have been carefully estimated as follows : 

Gallons. 
Domestic liquors evading tax and imported smug- 
gled, at least 5,000,000 

Domestic wines 10,000,000 

Domestic wines made on farms 3,092.330 

Domestic wines made and used in private families. . . 1,000,000 
Dilutions of liquors paying tax by dealers 7,500.000 



26,592,330 



"This amount added to the total produced in 1860, would be 
107,004,911 ; added to amount on which was collected tax in 
1870, would be 99,017,683. 

" It is well known that the great mass of alcoholic liquor is 
consumed as a beverage, and it will fall below the fact to 
place the amount paid for it at retail by the American drinker 
at 75,000,000 gallons yearly. But take the very modest esti- 
mate of Dr. Young, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, who makes 
the following estimate of the sales of liquors in the fiscal year 
ending June 1, 1871 : 

Whiskey, (alone) 60,000,000 gallons at $6, 

at retail $36^,000,000 

Imported spirits. 2,500,000 gallons at $10, 

at retail 25,000,000 

Imported wine 10,700,000 gallons at $5, 

at retail 53,500,000 



Cost of Intoxicants. 213 

Ale, beer, and porter 6,500,000 gallons at $20 

a bbl. at retail 13^000,000 

Native wines, brandies, cordials, estimated 31,590,000 



Total 600,000,000 

u I am satisfied that this is much below the real amount, but 
it is enough. 

"This is one-seventh the value of all our manufactures 
for that year, more than one- fourth that of farm productions, 
betterments, and stock, as shown by the census." 

"Dr. Hargreaves estimates the retail liquor bill of 1871 at 
$680,036,042. In 1872, as shown by the internal revenue returns, 
there was a total of domestic and foreign liquors shown in the 
hands of the American people of 337,288,066 gallons, the retail 
cost of which at the estimated prices of Dr. Young is $735,720,- 
018. The total of liquors paying tax from 1860 to 1872 — thir- 
teen years— was 2,762,926,066 gallons, costing the consumer 
$6,780,161,805. During several of these years, the Government 
was largely swindled out of the tax, so that no mortal knows 
how far the truth lies beyond these startling aggregates. 

"Dr. Young estimates the cost of liquors in 1876 at the same 
as in 1871— $600, 000, CC0— and exclaims: "It would pay for 
100,0 30, ^00 barrels of flour, averaging two and one-half barrels 
of flour to every man, woman, and child in the country. 

" Such facts might well transform the mathematician into an 
exclamation point. Dr. Hargreaves, who goes into all the mi- 
nutice of the demonstrations, dealing, however, only with bureau 
returns, declares that the annual consumption of distilled 
spirits in the United States is not less than 100,000,000 gallons 
annually, and this makes a very small allowance for ' ' crooked 
whiskey." Take now Dr. Young's moderate estimate of $600,- 
000,000 annually, and relying upon the official records of the 
country, and in sixteen years we have destroyed in drink 
$0,600,000,000 — more than four times the amount of the na- 
tional debt, and once and a half times the whole cost of the war 
of the rebellion to all sections of the country, while the loss of 
life, health, spiritual force, and moral power to the people was 
beyond comparison greater. The lowest estimate I have seen 
of the annual loss of life directly from the use of intoxicating 
liquor is 60,000, or 960,000 during the period above mentioned; 
more than three times the whole loss of the North by battle and 
disease in the war, as shown by the official returns. 

" The assessed value of all the real estate in the United 
States census of 1870 is $9,914,780,825; of personal, $4,264,205,- 



214 Alcohol in Histoi'y. 

907. In twenty-five years we drink ourselves out of the value 
of our country, person;-] property and all. 

%i The census shows that in 187 J the State of New York spent 
for liquors, $106, 59.), 000; more than two-fifths of the value of 
the products of agriculture and nearly one-seventh the value of 
all the manufactures, and nearly two-thirds of the wages paid 
for both agriculture and manufactures, the liquor hill being lit- 
tle less than twice the receipts of her railroads. The liquor 
bill of Pennsylvania in 1870 was $65/75,030, of Illinois, 
$42,825,000; Ohio, $58,845,003; Massachusetts, $25,195,000; 
New Hampshire, $5,800,000; Maine, where the prohibitory law 
is better enforced than anywhere else, $4,215,000, although 
Maine has twice the population of New Hampshire. 

"Dr. Hargreaves says that there was expended for intoxicat- 
ing drinks in — 

1869 $693,999,509 

1870 619,425,110 

1871 680,036,« 42 

1872 735,726,048 

Total 2, 729,186, 7t 9 

Annual average 682,296,677 

"And he says the average is larger since 1872, exceeding 
$700,000,000. 

" Each family by the census averages 5.09 persons, and we 
spend for liquor at the rate of $81.74 yearly for each. The loss 
to the nation in perverted labor is very great. In 1872 there 
were 7,276 licensed wholesale liquor establishments, and 161,144 
persons licensed to sell at retail. It is said that there are as 
many more unlicensed retail liquor shops. All these places of 
traffic must employ at least half a million of men. There were 
then 3,132 distilleries, which would employ certainly five men 
each — say 15,660. The brewers' congress in 1874 said that there 
were employed in their business 11,698. There would be miscel- 
laneously employed about breweries and distilleries 10,000 ; in 
selling say 500,000. In all, say 550,000 able-bodied men, who, 
so far as distilled liquors are concerned at least, constitute a 
standing army constantly destroying the American people. 
They create more havoc than an opposing nation which should 
maintain a hostile force of half a million armed men constantly 
making war against us upon our own soil. The temple of this 
Janus is always open. Why should we thus persevere in self- 
destruction ? 



Cost of Intoxicants. 215 

"There are 600,000 habitual drunkards in the United States. 
If they lose half their time it would be a loss of $150,000,000 to 
the nation in productive power, and in wages and wealth to 
both the nation and themselves every year. 

" Dr. Hargreaves has constructed the following table : 

The yearly loss of time and industry of 545,624 men 

employed in liquor-making and selling $272,812,000 

Loss of time and industry of 600,000 drunkards 150,000,000 

Loss of time of 1,404,323 male tipplers 146,849,592 

Total $569,661,592 

" And he adds that investigation will show this large aggre- 
gate is far below the true loss. 

"By this same process 40,000,000 bushels of nutritious grain 
are annually destroyed, equal to 600,000,000 four pound loaves : 
about 80 loaves for each family in the country. 

"Dr. Hitchcock, president of the Michigan State Board of 
Health, estimates the annual loss of productive life by reason 
of premature deaths produced by alcohol at 1,127,000 years, and 
that there are constantly sick or disabled from its use 98,000 
persons in this country. 

Assuming the annual producing power of an 
able-bodied person to be $500 value, and 
this annual loss of life would otherwise be 
producing, the national loss is the im- 
mense sum of $612,510,000 00 

Add to this the losses by the misdirected in- 
dustry of those engaged in the manufac- 
ture and sale ; loss of one-half the time of 
the 600,000 drunkards and of the tipplers, 
as their number is estimated by Dr. Har- 
greaves 568,861,592 00 

And we have $1,181,371,592 00 

The grain, etc., destroyed 36,000,000 00 

$1,217,371,592 00 

Dr. Hitchcock estimates the number of insane, 
made so annually, at 9,338, or loss in effect- 
ive life of 98,259 years, at $500 per year .. 49,129,500 00 

Number of idiots from same cause, an annual 

loss of 319,908 years 159,954,000 00 

$1,426,455,092 00 



216 Alcohol in History. 

Deduct receipts of internal reve- 
nue tax ("car 1375) $61,225,985 53 

Eeceipt3 from about 500,000 

State licenses, at $100 50,000,000 00 



111,225,995 53 

Annual loss to the nation of reduction $1,315, 229, 0C6 47 

Annual value of all labor in the United States, 

as per census of 1870 1,263,984,003 (0 

Losses from alcohol in excess of wages of labor 

yearly $51,245/ 93 47 

"This calculation includes nothing for interest upon capital 
invested, for care of the sick, insane, idiotic — it allows alcohol 
credit for revenue paid on all which is used for legitimate pur- 
poses. In England the capital invested in liquor business is 
$585,000,000, or £117,000,000. It was proved by the liquor deal- 
ers before the committee of the Massachusetts Legislature in 
1867 that the capital invested in the business in Boston was at 
least $100,000,000, and in the whole country it can not be less 
than $1,000,000,000, or ten times the amount invested in Boston. 
The annual value of imported liquors is about $80,000,000. It 
may be that the above estimate of losses yearly to the nation is 
too high. Perhaps $500 is more than the average gross earnings 
of an able-bodied man, and there may be other errors of less 
consequence. But any gentleman is at liberty to divide and 
subdivide the dreadful aggregate as often and as long as he 
pleases, and then I would ask him what good reason has he to 
give why the nation should lose anything from these causes." 

Izsttemperaxce aistd Crime. — Nothing is more fully 
proven than that Intemperance is one of the most prolific 
sources of crime. We present here a mere handful of our 
gleanings from authorities on this subject. At an Interna- 
tional Congress for the Prevention and Repression of 
Crime," held in London, in July 1872, the question was 
asked by the United States Commissioner : " What, in your 
opinion, are the principal causes of crime in your country ? " 
The following are extracts from the official answers of the 
several Governments : 

Austria^ u The desire for luxuries and license. " 



Intemperance and Crime. 217 

Belgium, "Drunkenness, libertinism, thoughtlessness, dis- 
taste of work, and idleness." 

Denmark, "Most frequently idleness, desire for unlawful or 
lawful pleasures, and habits of drinking." 

France, "The insufficiency of moral education, the general 
defect of intellectual culture, and the want of any industrial 
calling not opposing to the appetites and instincts a barrier 
sufficiently strong, leave an open road to crimes and misde- 
meanors." 

Bavaria, " In some parts of Bavaria it is still the custom of 
the peasants to carry long stiletto-like knives when visiting 
public-houses and dancing places, and thus on Sundays and 
holidays the smallest cause often leads them to inflict on each 
other severe injuries." 

Prussia, "Drunkenness, or, rather, a lust after immoderate 
and ruinous luxury and debauchery." 

Mexico, " Abuse of intoxicating drinks." 

Netherlands, " Drunkenness." 

Norway, "Laziness, drunkenness, and bad company, into 
which these vices will lead." 

Russia, " The cause of crimes arises from a certain Oriental 
fatalism, which is in the foundation of the character of the peo- 
ple .... It results in a kind of slothfulness, which is fre- 
quently overcome by the temptations of drunkenness and its 
consequences." 

Sweden, " An ever constant desire for spirits." 
. Switzerland, " Drunkenness, often accompanied by other ex- 
cesses. . . . That which is worst in the vice of drunkenness is 
not the criminal act which it has directly or indirectly caused, 
but much more the moral waste which the drunkard gradually 
suffers, and which causes him to lose all perception of the most 
elementary laws of morality " 

United States, " Intemperance is the proximate cause of much 
crime here."* 

To these testimonies add the statements of eminent 
Judges in the criminal courts. 

Chief-Justice Sir Matthew Hale, of England, said, as 
long ago as 1670 : 

" The places of judicature I have long held in this kingdom 
have given me an opportunity to observe the original cause of 
most of the enormities that have been committed for the space 

* Report of Proceedings, various pages from p. 20 to 278. 



218 Alcohol in History. 

of nearly twenty years ; and, by due observation, I have found 
that if the murders and manslaughters, the burglaries and rob- 
beries, the riots and tumults, the adulteries, fornications, rapes 
and other enormities that have happened in that time, were 
divided into five parts, folir df them have been the issues and 
product of excessive drinking— of tavern or ale-house drinking." 

Lord Chief-Baron Kelly, perhaps the oldest judge now on 
the English bench, says in a letter to the Arch-deacon of 
Canterbury : " Two-thirds of the crimes w T liicli come before 
the courts of law of this country are occasioned chiefly by 
intemperance." 

In 1S32, Lord Gillies, "directed the attention of the sheriff 
and magistrates of Glasgow to the fact, that there were not less 
than 1,300 licensed public-houses in the Royalty; and large as 
the city was, and numerous as were its inhabitants, he could not 
but regard that number as hearing a very extraordinary propor- 
tion to the population. They could not but he sensible of the 
fact that the facilities thus afforded to the indulgence of intemper- 
ate habit were the principal cause of the crime that prevailed." 

The same year, at the conclusion of the Perth assizes, 
the Lord Justice Clark, addressing the Sheriff, said : 

"He regretted to say, that he could not congratulate him on 
the decrease of crime in the district ; and he could not help 
adverting to the numerous instances of assault ; and as these 
evidently originated in the excitement arising from the immod- 
erate use of spirituous liquors, he was naturally led to condemn 
the facilities which are too often amply afforded to the thought- 
less, the profligate, or the quarrelsome, for the ohtaining of ar- 
dent spirits : he would, therefore, most earnestly counsel the 
magistrates and others with whom it lay to grant licenses, not to 
allow any notion of public economy, however specious, for 
increasing the revenue of the country, to tend to the deterioration 
of the public morals." 

Judge Patteson said, in an address to the Grand Jury : 
" If it were not for this drinking, you and I would have 
nothing to do." 

Baron Alderson, addressing a Grand Jury, said : " A 
great proportion of the crime to be brought forward for your 
consideration, arises from the vice of drunkenness alone ; 



Intemperance and Crime. 219 

indeed, if you take away from the calendar all those cases 
with which drunkenness had any connection, you would 
make the large calendar a very small one." 

Judge Erskine, in passing sentence on a criminal for an 
offence committed by him while intoxicated, said : u Ninety- 
nine cases out of every hundred arise from the same cause." 

Justice Coleridge said : " Three-fourths of the crimes commit- 
ed in the country are committed under the influence of liquor. I 
verily believe that nothing would tend more to make the people 
of this country moral, and to make the courts of justice empty 
sinecures, than abstaining from excessive drinking." 

Chief-Justice Coleridge says : 

" I can keep no terms with a vice that fills our gaols, — that 
destroys the comfort of homes and the peace of families, and de- 
bases and brutalizes the people of these islands." 

And quite recently, in a charge to the Grand Jury, at 
Bristol, he said : 

" Persons sitting in his position must by this time be almost 
tired of saying what was the veriest truism in the world, and 
what he supposed, because it was so true, nobody paid the 
slightest attention to— viz., that drunkenness was the vice 
which tilled the jails of England, and that */ they could make 
England sober they could shut up nine-tenths of her prisons. It was 
not only those particular cases to which he had been directing 
their attention, but other cases ; and indeed, a large majority of 
the cases which a judge and jury had to deal with began or ended, or 
were connected, with the vice of drunkenness, n 

Mr. Justice Keating: " After a long experience I can state that 
nineteen-twentieths of the acts of violence committed through- 
out England originate in the public-house." " Drunkenness 
again ! It is almost the case with every one that is brought be- 
fore me." 

Mr. Justice Lush : "It is my anxiety, and I hope it will be the 
jurymen's also, to use all possible means to put a stop in a great 
degree to the drunkenness that prevails. More than half, nay 
full three-fourths of the cases that have been before me at these 
Sessions, have their origin, either directly or indirectly in 
drunkenness." 

Mr. Justice Denman, said at the Leeds Assize : "I may men- 
tion as illustrating the connection between excessive drinking 



220 Alcohol in History. 

and manslaughter, that I found at a Liverpool Assize that of 
thirteen offences of violence for trial, there was not one which 
was not directly attributable to excessive drinking. It is so 
here." 

Lord Chief- Justice "Whiteside, speaks of intemperance as : 
" This disgraceful vice, the parent of crime." 

A return ordered by the House of Commons in 1852, in 
reference to the prison of Edinburgh, showed that out of 
569 prisoners, 408 assigned strong- drink as the cause of their 
being there. A governor of another prison, states: "As 
the result of close attention to the state and condition of 
over 50,000 prisoners, male and female, extending over a 
period of 19 years, over 75 per cent, are certainly due to in- 
temperance." 

So Mr. Justice Lawson, at the Armagh assizes, in 1869, 
says : " All the crimes we meet with on circuit are more 
or less directly or indirectly caused by drunkenness/ 7 

And Mr. Justice Deasy, at the same assize, in 1871, said : 
" Drunkenness is the parent of all the crimes committed in 
Ireland." 

The King of France, some years ago, called Mr. Delavan's 
attention to the fact that the use of wine was the cause of 
intoxication and its fearful consequences, in that country ; 
and recently — 

"According to a Xew York paper, the consumption of beer r 
wine and spirits has materially increased in France, especially 
within a few years, some persons accounting for it, in part, by 
the national disappointment and mortification at the result of 
the German war. The annual quantity of wine drank is de- 
clared to be equal to thirty gallons to each inhabitant of the 
country, while in 1838 it was not more than fifteen gallons. The 
consumption of beer in the last twenty years has increased 
three-fold, and of liquor fully fifty per cent. France is no 
longer a wine-drinking country merely. In many of the north- 
ern departments, particularly among the workingmen ? cheap 
and very bad brandy has come into common use, as it has also 
in Paris and other large cities. The elose connection between 
alcohol and health and vice is shown by the increase of acciden- 
tal and violent deaths^ of mortality generally, nnd likeAvise of 
crime. In the districts* where alcohol is freely drank there are 



Intemperance and Crime. 221 

five times as many arrests as in the districts in which the in- 
habitants confine themselves to wine. A number of cases of in- 
sanity, directly traceable to alcohol, have declared themselves 
in different parts of the country, and these, until recently, were 
almost unknown. The remark, once so frequent, ' You never 
see a drunken man in France/ can no longer he made with 
truth. Drunken men, though still very rare compared with 
Great Britain and the United States, are now quite common; so 
common, indeed, as to attract no attention. Americans who 
have been there within three or four years have noticed this, and, 
if they have been abroad before, have heen struck by the differ- 
ence between what is and what has been.' 7 

Not long ago "The Federal Council of Switzerland, having 
been petitioned for a restoration of the death penalty, on the 
ground that crime had increased during the four years since its 
abolition, instituted an investigation of the subject which has 
occupied a period of six months. By comparison of the statis- 
tics of Switzerland with those of other countries, the council 
lind that crime has also increased in other countries during the 
same period where the death penalty has heen retained. Very 
significant is their finding as to the cause of this general increase 
of crime in their own wine-growing country as well as elsewhere. 
They say : ' There were five times as many executions in Great 
Britain in 1877 as in 1871, and nearly twice as many in Belgium, 
while in Denmark, Holland, Austria, Germany, France, and 
Italy, murder has heen greatly augmented in the same time, the 
cause being, in view of the Swiss Council, the increase in misery, 
intemperance and licentiousness, in connection with the greater 
poverty and wretchedness of the populations." 

In the United States, the same facts are apparent. 
The United States Commissioner of Education, in his Ee- 
port for 1871, says : 

" That from 80 to 90 per cent, of our criminals connect their 
courses of crime with intemperance. Of the 14,315 inmates of 
the Massachusetts prisons, 12,396 are reported to have heen in- 
temperate, or 84 per cent. In the New Hampshire prison sixty- 
five out of ninety-one admit themselves to have heen intemper- 
ate. Reports from every State, county, and municipal prison 
in Connecticut, made in 1871, show that more than 90 per cent, 
had heen in the habit of drinking, by their own admission." 

The warden of the Rhode Island State prison estimates 
90 per cent, of his prisoners as drinkers." 



222 Alcohol in History. 

These relate to those who have been guilty of the most 
serious offences, not mere every-day arrests for drunkenness 
and disorderly conduct. 

Elisha Harris, M. D. ? a Prison Inspector, in a Paper on 
" The Relations of Drunkenness to Crime," presented to 
the National Temperance Convention, in 1873, says : 

"More than half of all the convicts in the State prisons and 
penitentiaries voluntarily confess the fact that they were intem- 
perate and frequently drunk previous to the crimes for which 
they are imprisoned, and that such intemperance had an es- 
sential influence in preparing them for the acts of crime. 
About 82 per cent, of the convicts in the United States privately 
confess their frequent indulgence in intoxicating drinks. The 
Superin ten dent of the Detroit House of Correction found that 
only 18 per cent, of the convicts in fifteen State prisons and a 
large number of county jails ever claimed to be temperate. 
This may be taken as a fair statement of percentages of the tem- 
perate and intemperate in the prisons and jails of the United 
States and Great Britain. 

" As a physician, familiar with the morbid consequences of 
alcoholic indulgence in thousands of sufferers from it ; as a stu- 
dent of physiology, interested in the remarkable phenomena and 
results of inebriation ; and as a close observer of social and 
moral wants, it was easy for the writer to believe that not less 
than half of all the crime and pauperism in the State depends 
upon alcoholic inebriety. 

"But after two years of careful inquiry into the history 
and condition of the criminal population of the State, he finds 
that the conclusion is inevitable, that, taken in all its rela- 
tions, alcoholic drinks may justly be charged with far more 
than half of the crimes that are brought to conviction in 
the State of Kew York, and that fully eighty-five per cent, 
of all convicts give evidence of having in some large degree 
been prepared or enticed to do criminal acts because of the 
physical and distracting effects produced upon the human 
organism by alcohol, and as they indulged in the use of alco- 
holic drink. 77 

The Board of State Charities of Pennsylvania say in their 
Report for 1871 : "The most prolific source of disease, 
poverty and crirne, observing men will acknowledge is in- 
temperance." 



Intemperance and Crime. 223 

William J. Mullen, Philadelphia Prison Agent, says in 
his Report for 1870 : 

" An evidence of the bad effects of this unholy business may be 
seen in the fact that there have been thirty-four murders with- 
in this city (Philadelphia) during the last year alone, each one 
of which was traceable to intemperance, and one hundred and 
twenty-one assaults for murder proceeding from the same cause. 
Of over 38,000 arrests in our city within the year, 75 per cent. 
were caused by intemperance. Of 18,305 persons committed to 
our prison within the year, more than two-thirds were the con- 
sequence of intemperance." 

A sketch of the History of the Albany, N. Y. Penitenti- 
ary, under the Superintendents Pillsbury, father and son, 
states that during the period of ten years ending 1876, there 
have been committed 13,413 criminals. u Of that number, 
10,214 haye admitted that they were of intemperate habits, 
while 3,199 claimed to be temperate." 

The Indian troubles in America, are greatly aggravated 
by intemperance. Says the Helena (Montana) Independent: 
u Whiskey is the cause of all the disturbances between the 
whites and Indians, and no doubt the primary cause of all 
thefts and outrages by the Indians." 

Another journal, the Walla- Walla Statesman, says : 
" X early all the trouble with Indians is occasioned by the 
action of a few deprayed whites selling them whiskey." 

Nearly twenty years ago, Rowland Burr, Esq., for many 
years a magistrate at Toronto, stated to the Canadian Par- 
liament : 

" That nine-tenths of the male prisoners, and nineteen-twen- 
tieths of the female, are sent to jail by intoxicating liquors. In 
four years there were 25,000 prisoners in Canadian jails, of 
whom 22,000 owed their imprisonment to drinking habits." 

In 1875, a Report of a Committee made to the Dominion 
House of Commons, contains the following? 

" Your Committee further find, on examining the reports of 
the prison inspectors for the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, 
that out of 28,289 commitments to the gaols for the three pre- 



224 Alcohol in History. 

vious years, 21,236 were committed either for drunkenness or 
for crimes perpetrated under the influence of drink. 7 ' 

The connection between drunkenness and crime is fur- 
ther evident from the well-authenticated fact that crime 
increases or diminishes in proportion to the amount of in- 
toxicants consumed. 

" Witness stated to the Parliamentary Committee, that in 
1805, when there was but little drunkenness in Glasgow, the 
number of criminals brought up at the court of justice, then 
held twice a year, did not exceed ten or twelve; being at the 
most twenty-four in the year; but by the year 1830 crime had 
become so prevalent, that it was found necessary to hold three 
courts in the year, and instead often or twelve prisoners being 
tried in each, as formerly, the number had increased to eighty ! 
and, generally, even more than that. This would make, at the 
lowest estimate, two hundred and forty, instead of twenty- four 
annually! Now, it is a ' contemporaneous fact/ which will 
throw suspicion upon the drinking customs, that in the year 
1805, the average consumption cf spirits in Scotland was one 
million and a half gallons ; but from 1826 to 1831, the average 
consumption was five million and a half gallons. The increase 
of population in Glasgow during the above twenty-five years, 
could have had but a comparatively slight effect on the calen- 
dar ; for, at that period its increase would only be about one 
hundred per cent., while crime had increased nine hundred per 
cent ! 

"A still more suspicious case, however, is afforded by the re- 
ports of the Dublin police, for the three years 1808-9-10. Dur- 
ing the first two years, distillation was stopped by law in con- 
sequence of scarcity, and crime diminished in a most extraordi- 
nary manner. In the third year, distillation was resumed, and 
in consequence, liquor became cheaper, and more was drunk. 
Now, it is remarkable that in the same year, the citizens of 
Dublin seem to have abandoned the notion, held during the 
two preceding years, of becoming a remarkably honest people, 
for crime, which had been two years on the decrease, suddenly 
turned round, and in 1810 increased to an alarming extent, com- 
pared with what it was while distillation was stopped. During 
half of the year 1812 and the whole of 1813, the distilleries again 
ceased working; liquor was consequently raised in price ; and. 
again crime diminished. "When, however, the restriction was a 
second time taken off distillation, crime, as before, increased. 
The number of commitments in each year was in 1811, when the 



Intemperance and Crime. 225 

distilleries were in full work, 10,737; in 1812, six months of 
which they ceased working, 9,908; in 1813, during the whole of 
which distillation was stopped, 8,985 ! and in 1814, when the re- 
striction upon distillation came off, 10,249." * 

" Lord Morpeth, when Secretary for Ireland, in an address on 
the condition of Ireland, gave these statistics : Of cases of mur- 
der, attempts at murder, offences against the person, aggravated 
assaults, and cutting and maiming— there were, he says, in 1837, 
12,096; 1838, 11,058; 1839, 1,097; 1840, 173. Between 1838 and 
1840 the consumption of spirits in Ireland had fallen off 5,000,- 
000 gallons ; the public -houses where liquors were retailed had 
lessened by 237 in the city of Dublin alone ; the persons impris- 
oned, in the Bridewell (the principal city prison), had fallen in 
a single year from 136 to 23, and more than 100 cells in the 
Bridewell being empty, the Smithneld prison was actually 
closed." t 

" During the seven years between 1812 and 1818, both inclu- 
sive, the annual consumption of British spirits in England and 
Wales was 5,000,000 gallons, and the annual average number of 
prisoners committed for trial was 11,305. Duriaig the seven 
years between 1826 and 1832, the annnal average consumption 
had risen to nearly 9,000,000 gallons, and the annual average 
commitments to 21,796, both items almost double; while from 
1812 to 1832, the population had increased only about one-third. 
The amount of crime, then, is not so much measured by the in- 
crease of population, as by the increase in the consumption of 
intoxicating liquor. 

" During the four years succeeding 1820, the consumption of 
spirits in England and Wales amounted to 27,000,000 gallons; 
the number of licenses granted was 351,647, and the number of 
criminals committed for trial was 61,260. In the four years end- 
ing 1828, th consumption had increased to 42,000,000 gallons, 
the number of licenses granted being 374,794, and the number 
of committals Tose to 78,345. In the next four years, ending 
1832, the amount of spirits consumed was 48,000,000 gallons, the 
number of licenses 468,438, when the number of commitments 
increased to 91,366. 

1 ' Thus during the eight years from 1824 to 1832, the commit- 
tals had increased 30,000,000, or 50 per cent., and the consump- 
tion of spirits increasing in the same time 77 per cent, with a 
very decided increase also in the consumption of beer ; while 

* Documents quoted in the Teetotaller's Companion, pp. 34, 35. 
t Judge Davis on Intemperance and Crime, p. 12. 
15 



226 Alcohol in History. 

during the three periods, the licenses had increased from 351,- 
647 to 468,438, being an increase of 116,794." * 

An article in the Nciv York Commercial Advertiser, Dec. 
1876, on 6i Drunkenness in England/' contains the fol- 
lowing : 

"As to the number of apprehensions for drunkenness, it is 
shown that over a course of ten years till September, 1874, the 
last year of which we have the statistics, the number of persons 
in England and Wales proceeded against summarily as drunk, 
and drunk and disorderly, increased 85 per cent., while the pop- 
ulation increased only 9 per cent. In 1863-4 there were 100,067 
— that is, 33 per 10,000 of population ; in 1873 4 there were 185,- 
730 cases— that is, 57 per 10,000 of population. While, there- 
fore, the mean increase per head of the population in the 
amounts of spirits and malt consumed between 1860 and 1874 
was only 32.1 per cent., the increase in the number of apprehen- 
sions for being drunk, and drunk and disorderly, has been 72.7 
per cent, since even 1863." 

"In Maine, in 1870, the convictions for crime under prohibi- 
tion were only 431, or one in every 1,689, while in New York 
(exclusive of the City of New York,) under license, the convic- 
tions were 5,473, or one in every 621 souls. Can it be that the 
rural population of New York is so much more addicted to crime 
than the people of Maine ? 

" But take Connecticut — commonly called ' the land of steady 
habits. ' Under the prohibition law of 1854, crime is shown to 
have diminished 75 per cent. On the restoration of license, in 
1873, crime increased 50 per cent., in a single year, and in two 
years in Hartford, according to official returns presented by the 
Eev. Mr. Walker, crime increased in that city 400 per cent. In 
New London the prison was empty, and the jailer out of busi- 
ness for awhile after prohibition went into effect. f 

In Massachusetts, after a year's experience in substitut- 
ing License for Prohibition, Governor Clanin said, in his 
Inaugural Address, January, 1869 : 

"A moral and Christian people cannot remain inactive when 
they see such results as are following, and are sure to follow, 
the sale of intoxicating drinks to the extent that now prevails 

* Powell's Bacchus Dethroned, pp. 38, 39. 

f Judge Davis on Intemperance and Crime. Pp. 16, 17. 



Intemperance and Crime. 227 

in our hitherto quiet and orderly State. The increase of drunk- 
enness and crime during the last six months, as compared with 
the same period in 1867, is very marked and decisive as to the 
operation of the law. The State prison, jails, and houses of 
correction are being rapidly filled, and will soon require enlarg- 
ed accommodations if the commitments continue to increase as 
they have since the present law went into force. The increase 
of commitments for the eight months previous to the 1st of 
October, 1868, over the same time in 1867, is remarkable, and 
demands the careful attention of the community. In the eight 
months alluded to, in 1867, 65 persons were committed to the 
States prison ; in the same period in 18G8, there were 136 com- 
mitments — more than double the number of the previous year. 
It may be, perhaps, that all this increase is not due to the ease 
and freedom with which intoxicating liquors can be obtained, 
but few will deny that much the largest part is chargeable to 
this cause." 

The Chief Constable of the Commonwealth reported to 
the Legislature (January, 1869) : 

" This law has opened and legalized, in the various cities and 
towns, about two thousand five hundred open bars, and over 
one thousand other places where liquors are presumed not to be 
sold by the glass. Of these three thousand five hundred liquor 
establishments, Boston has about two thousand, or about five 
hundred more than all the other cities and towns of the Com- 
monwealth. Drunkenness is on the increase to a melancholy, 
extent. 

The State Board of Charities also testified : 

" The increase of intemperance, which the reaction of last year 
against the strictness of prohibition has greatly promoted, in- 
terferes at once with our industrial interests, fosters pauperism 
and disease, and swells the lists of criminals. That intemper- 
ance has increased will appear from the prison statistics, soon 
to be submitted : that crime and vice have also increased will 
be shown by the same impartial test, as well as confirmed by 
the observation of all who have attended to that subject, and 
noticed what has been going on in. the past year. If it is de- 
sired to secure in the best manner the repression of crime and 
pauperism, the increase of production, the decrease of taxation, 
and a genera prosperity of the community, so far as this question 
of intemperance is concerned, it is clearly my judgment that 
Massachusetts should return to the policy which prohibits the 



228 Alcohol in History. 

sale of intoxicating drinks except for mechanical or medical 
purposes. 

" It will be remembered that the election of November, 1867, 
virtually abolished the prohibitory law, though it remained 
nominally in force until April 23, 1868. Bearing these facts in 
mind, and noticing the corresx^onding decrease in prosecutions 
for violating the liquor laws, you will also notice the increase 
of public drunkenness, such as is punished by imprisonment 
when the fine imposed cannot at once be paid. For the six 
months ending April 1, 1867, the number committed to jail for 
drunkenness was 884 ; for violating the liquor law, 107. In the 
corresponding six months, beginning October 1, 1867, and end- 
ing April 1, 1868, the number of commitments for drunkenness 
was 1,035; for violation of the liquor law, 47. In houses of 
correction during the first-named period, 480 commitments for 
drunkenness, and 58 for violating the law ; in the second period 
688 and 24 ; in the Boston House of Industry, 752 commitments 
for drunkenness in the first period, and 853 in the second. In 
the whole State during the first period, there were 2,116 com- 
mitments for drunkenness, and 165 for violating the liquor laws. 
In the second period, there were 2,576 commitments for drunken- 
ness, and only 70 for violation of the liquor laws. The whole 
number of commitments for all offences was 5,977 in the first 
period, and 6,428 in the second. If we now compare the last 
six months of the prison year 1867 (from April 1 to October 1) 
with the last six months of 1868, the figures are equally sugges- 
tive. In the jails during this period, in 1867, there were 988 
commitments for drunkenness ; m the houses of correction, 609 ; 
in the House of Industry, 904: total, 2,501. During the corres- 
ponding period in 1868 the number of commitments was — to the 
jails, 1,090 ; to the houses of correction, 1,020 ; to the House of 
Industry, 1,060 — total, 3,170; the whole number of commit- 
ments for all offences being 6,303 in this period of 1867, and 
7,098 in 1868. During the year past, therefore, it appears that 
while crime in general has only increased about 10 per cent, 
drunkenness has increased more than twice as much, or 24 per 
cent. This fact offers the best possible comment on the condi- 
tion of the public mind and of the legal repression of intemper- 
ance since the State election of 1867. " 

" The prison registers indicate that more than two-thirds of 
the criminals in the State are the victims of intemperance ; but 
the proportion of crime traceable to this great vice must be set 
down, as heretofore, at not less than four-fifths. Its effects are 
unusually apparent in almost every grade of crime. A notice- 



Intemperance and Prostitution. 229 

able illustration appears in the number of commitments to the 
State Prison, which, during eight months of the present year, 
in which the sale of intoxicating liquors has been almost wholly 
unrestrained, was 136, against 65 during the corresponding 
months of the preceding year. Similar results appear in nearly 
all the prisons of the Commonwealth." 

Judge Davis, in his pamphlet previously^ cited, says : " My 
sole purpose is to establish that intemperance is an evil fac- 
tor in crime, by showing that whatever limits or suppresses the 
one diminishes the other in a ratio almost mathematically cer- 
tain. Whether judging from the declared judicial experience 
of others, or from my own, or from carefully collected statis- 
tics running through many series of years, I believe it entirely 
safe to say that one-half of all the crime of this country and 
of Great Britain is caused by the intemperate use of intoxicat- 
ing liquors ; and that of the crimes involving personal violence 
certainly three-fourths are chargeable to the same cause." 
P. 21. 

Intemperance AM) PROSTITUTION. — The tendency 
of intoxicants to inflame the passions, blunt the moral 
tense, and so throw a pure soul off its guard, that it may 
fall an easy victim to temptation, has long been noticed by 
the observing. St. Ambrose, in his first address to Widows, 
gives this injunction : u Be first pure, O widow ! from wine, 
that thou mayest be pure from adultery." And Lord Ba- 
con, in his " Wisdom of the Ancients," declares : u Above 
all things known to mankind, wine is the most powerful 
and efficient agent in stirring up and inflaming passions of 
every kind, and is of the nature of a common fuel to sen- 
suous desires." 

Addison says, in his Spectator, No. 569 : 

" The sober man, by the strength of reason, may keep under 
arid subdue any vice or folly to which he is most inclined ; but 
wine makes every latent seed sprout up in the soul and show 
itself; it gives fury to the passions, and force to those objects 

which are apt to produce them Nor does this vice 

only betray the hidden faults of a man, and show them in the 
most odious colors, but often discovers faults to which he is not 
naturally subject. There is more of turn than of truth in a 
saying of Seneca, that drunkenness does not produce, but dis- 



230 Alcohol in History. 

covers faults. Common experience teaches the contrary. 
Wine throws a man out of himself and infuses qualities into the 
mind which she is a stranger to in her sober moments." 

How this is done, Dr. Richardson folly explains in his 
Lecture on " The Effects of Alcohol on Life and Health/ 7 
where he traces the action of Alcohol in the system, until — 

" The cerebral or brain centres become influenced, reduced in 
power, and the controlling powers of will and of judgment are 
lost. As these centres are overbalanced and thrown into chaos, 
the rational part of the nature of the man gives way before the 
emotional, passional, or more organic part. The reason is now 
off duty, and all the mere animal instincts and sentiments are 
laid more hare — the coward shows more craven, the braggart 
more boastful, the cruel more savage, the untruthful more false. 
The reason, the emotions, the instincts, are all in a state of car- 
nival—in chaotic, imbecile disorder." 

" There is no question," says Dr. Anstic, "that the great ten- 
dency of drinking, in proportion to the frequency with which it 
is indulged, is to obliterate moral conscience." 

Dr. Tait, in his work, u Magdalenism • being an Inquiry 
into the Causes and Consequences of Prostitution/ 7 says : 

" That its ranks are supplied in some measure from those who 
have been trained from.infancy to drinking — who imbibed with 
their mother's milk the desire for intoxicating drinks, and un- 
consciously formed a habit which their riper years only con- 
firmed and rendered more inveterate ; and others who first 
formed the habit of intemperance, and subsequently resorted 
to a life of prostitution in order to procure the means of satiat- 
ing their desires for alcoholic liquors. Some have recourse to 
strong liquors to drown remorse and shame, and expel from 
their minds all uneasy feelings regarding their awful situation. 
The mental agony which many of them experience in their 
sober moments, is so afflicting and intolerable that they are glad 
to intoxicate themselves to gain a momenta ease. The remedy 
of intoxication is prescribed by their companions in misfortune 
and associates in wickedness as the only cure for low spirits. The 
first month of their wicked life of prostitution is thus spent in 
continuous drunkenness, and the habit of dissipation is formed 
before they arrive at a sense of their miserable situation. Xo 
sacrifice is counted too great so that they may obtain spirituous 
liquors, Their clamor for drink is incessant, and every artifice 



Intemperance and Prostitution. 231 

is had recourse to in order to obtain it There are 

few causes of prostitution more prevalent and more powerful 
than inebriety.'* 

Similar testimony is borne by Dr. Vintras, in his work on 
Prostitution . 

So Mr. Logan, in his "Moral Statistics of Glasgow/' cites sev- 
eral instances in which he had been told by fallen women in 
the most explicit terms: "that drink had not only been the 
cause of their seduction, but it was also iDartahen of daily to 
enable them to persevere in their course of wickedness. c Drink, 
drink/ said they, i and nothing but drink, has brought us to 
this state of shame and degradation.* '* 

"The brothel," says Judge Pitman, "requires the dram- 
shop to stimulate the passions and to narcotize the con- 
science." 

The statistics in regard to prostitution are not easily col- 
lected, as so many influences combine to purchase or en- 
force immunity from detection. But in 1839, according to 
the Report of the Constabulary Force Commissioners, there 
were about 8,000 in London, all of whom were known 
to the police. The entire population being then about 
1,600,000, the proportion of prostitutes to virtuous adult 
women in London was just one in forty. In Bath, on the 
same basis of computation, the proportion was one in twen- 
ty-four; in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, one in nineteen; in Bris- 
tol, one in thirteen : while in Liverpool it reached the 
enormous proportion of one professed prostitute to every 
eight virtuous women ! The population has increased in 
each of these places — in London it has more than doubled, 
and in the other places more than one-third — in the last 
forty years, and this evil has more than kept pace with it. 
If, then, it was claimed, and with ground for belief in the 
accuracy of the statement, that in 1839 there were 228,000 
of these degraded women in the united kingdom, what 
must be the showing of this enormity now ! 

• v It has been computed/" says Mr. Powell, " that the aver- 
age duration of life of this class is from 4 to 10 years : half-way 
between the two extremes gives an average of 7 years. Now the 
social evil has not diminished; in fact, it has grown with our 



232 Alcohol in History. 

growth, or rather with the growth of the liquor traffic. At the 
present time there are plying their deadly trade in all onr large 
centres of population, about 1-0,000 prostitutes. And the bulk 
of these pass away in seven years — and how'? Some perish 
by their own rash hands ; others perish forlorn and for- 
saken, a mass of loathsome disease; and yet their number 
is not diminished; other 90,000 are found to have taken 
their place, to pass through the same brief and blighted 
career, and in their turn to meet the same sad end. As we 
gaze upon this diseased and degraded sisterhood — many of 
them still lovely amid their ruin, we are led to inquire, 
Whence come they? And the answer is too clear to be mis- 
taken. They are, for the most part, the product of our Euinous 
Drink System." * 

Europe, generally, is as badly demoralized in this re- 
spect as Great Britain is j prostitution being licensed in 
some countries, and not severely dealt with in any. This 
significant fact, however, confronts us : " According to 
exact statistics 700,000 illegitimate children are annually 
born in Christian Europe, or one illegitimate to every 13.5 
legitimate.^ t 

In 1858, William W. Sanger, M. D., published a " His- 
tory of Prostitution," etc., in which he gives the number 
of frail women in New York City as 7,860. At that time 
the number of dancing-saloons, liquor or lager beer stores, 
where prostitutes assembled, was 151. Now, with 7,000 
licensed grog-shops in New York, and more than 2,000 
unlicensed ; and with the population increased from 800,000 
to 1,208,471, what a field of debauchery is furnished in our 
great metropolis. Consider that about the same propor- 
tions are found in all our cities and large towns, and that 
the result of Dr. Sanger's investigations, is true everywhere : 
" that not one per cent, of the prostitutes in New York 
practice their calling without partaking of intoxicating 
drinks," — and what a picture we have of the connection of 
drinking and moral ruin ! 

* Bacchus Dethroned, p. 42. 

t Deterioration and Race Education. By Samuel Royce. 
P. 440. 



Intemperance and Pauperism. 233 

Ixtemperaxce axd Paupekism. — As with crime, so 
with poverty, intemperance is the most prolific cause. 

"It is a curious and important fact," says Dr. Colquhoun, 
writing in regard to London, " that, during the period when 
distilleries vrere stopped 'in 1796 and 179T, although bread and 
every necessary of life was considerably higher than during the 
preceding year, the poor, in that quarter of the town where 
the chief part resided, were apparently more comfortable, paid 
their rents more regularly, and were better fed than at any pe- 
riod for some years before ; even although they had not the ben- 
efit of the extensive charities which were distributed in 1795. 
This can only be accounted for by their being denied the indul- 
gence of gin, which had become in a great measure inaccessible, 
from its very high price. It may fairly be concluded, that 
the money formerly spent in this imprudent manner, had been 
applied to the purchase of provisions and other necessaries, to 
the amount of some hundred thousand pounds." * 

In 1843, the Home Secretary reported that there were 
2,000,000 paupers in Great Britain, the proportion to the 
whole population being every tenth man, woman, or child ; 
and of this number 1,500,000 were pauperized by intemper- 
ance. In 1845, £7,000,000 was levied for the mainte- 
nance of English paupers ; and during the preceding thirty 
years there had been an annual average of £6,500,000 
levied for the same purpose, being a total of £200,000,000, 
of which full three-fourths was demanded by intemperance. 

Mr. Chadwick, an experienced Poor Law Commissioner, 
testified before a Parliamentary Committee : " For some 
months, as I investigated every new case that came under 
my knowledge, I found, in nine cases out of ten, the main 
cause of pauperism w T as the ungovernable inclination for 
fermented liquors." 

Dr. Chalmers said, in 1846 : " The public-house is the 
most deleterious, and by far the most abundant source of 
pauperism." 

And the Chaplain to the Work-house at Birmingham, 
declared, about the same time : 

* Colquhoun on the Police of the Metropolis, p. 326. 



234 Alcohol in History. 

"From my own actual experience, I am fully convinced of the 
accuracy of a statement made by the late governor, that of every 
hundred persons admitted into the Birmingham Work-house, 
ninety-nine were reduced to this state of humiliation and de- 
pendence, either directly or indirectly, through the prevalent 
and ruinous drinking usages of our country." * 

Later, about 1862, the Committee on Intemperance for the 
Lower House of Convocation in the Province of Canterbury, 
after the most searching inquiry, reported : 

"It appears indeed that at least 75 per cent, of the occupants 
of our work-houses, and a large proportion of those receiving 
out-door pay, have become pensioners on the public directly or 
indirectly through drunkenness, and the improvidence and ab- 
sence of self-respect which this pestilent vice is known to en- 
gender and perpetuate. The loss of strength and wealth to the 
country, the increase of taxation, the deterioration of national 
character thus produced, it is at once humiliating and irritating 
to contemplate." f 

In 1873, in a Paper on Poor Law and its Effects on Thrift, 
read by Mr. G. C. T. Bartley, Hon. Secretary of the Pro- 
vident Knowledge Society, it is asserted : 

"A tithe of the receipts of the public-houses properly 
expended would render the Poor Law altogether needless. If 
every man gave up one glass in ten, no Poor Law would be 
wanted. In my little book, "One Square Mile in the East of 
London/' I showed that one-sixth of the amount expended in 
drink in one year in that poorest part of London, would build 
all the schools which were required, at a cost of some £75,000 ; 
and that one-twenty-third would maintain them without any 
Government grant at all. In a little book, l The Seven Ages 
of a Village Pauper,' I go somewhat over the same ground with 
regard to the drink in a remote agricultural village, and the 
result is very striking, considering the popular notion as to the 
poverty of the agricultural laborer. Seven public-houses, taking 
at least £3000 a year, exist in the parish of 1500 souls. Calcu- 
lating that half this expenditure is necessary and wholesome 
— and there are several special reasons which render this an exces- 
sive estimate, for nearly all the farmers who employ the villa- 
gers brew beer themselves for their men's consumption during 

* Authorities cited in " The Teetotaller's Companion," pp. 149-157. 
t Britain's Social State. P. 73. 



Intemperance and Pauperism. 235 

work— it follows that no less than £1500 is wasted in this small 
village ; a sum which would give a pension of £20 a year, or 
nearly 8s. a week, to every person of the industrial class 
over sixty years of age." 

The official " Statistical Summary ;? of pauperism and 
poor rates in England for the year 1873, shows that " 829,281 
paupers, necessitated a tax of £12,657,943." * 

"The total income of the people of the United Kingdom was 
estimated by Mr. Dudley Baxter in 1870 at £860,000,000, which 
would he an average of more than £132 to every family, even if 
we take no account of the very considerable increase of wages, 
&c, which has taken place since then. If we take this into 
account, the total must be at least £900,000,000, or nearly £140 
to every family. The working classes are reckoned at about 
20,000, 000 of the population, and their income is reckoned by 
Mr. D. Baxter at £325,000,000, while Prof essor Leone Levi makes 
it £418,000,000; these figures give us an average of fully £80 
and £104 a year, or 31s. and 40s. a week to each workman's 
family. Now, while we may always expect to have some poor 
in the land, in consequence of disease, misfortune, and death, 
it is clear that with such resources, poverty should be very ex- 
ceptional, and pauperism should be all but unknown. The fact 
is, however, very different. The following figures give the 
total number of paupers in the United Kingdom during 1873 : 

England and Wales. 3,116,302 

Ireland 278,771 

Scotland ,111,996 

Total 3,507,069 

It is probable that a few of this number may be reckoned in 
two or more parishes as 'Casuals,' but as the ' Vagrants' are 
not included in the figures for England and Ireland, the bal- 
ance will be fully restored. We have thus 10 per cent, of the 
population, or nearly 15 per cent, of the manual labor class 
paupers." f 

Prof. Levi, alluded to in the foregoing, estimates that of 
the $1,500,000,000 cash annually earned by English work- 
men, they ought to save $75,000,000, but that as a matter 

* Cited in " Christendom and the Drink Curse," p. 124. 
t " The Temperance Reformation, and its claims upon the 
Christian Church," pp. 52, 53. 



236 Alcohol in History. 

of fact they save only $20,000,000. The bulk of the miss- 
ing $55,000,000 is wasted mostly in drink." 

A Committee on Pauperism appointed by the General 
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, reported in 1868 
that : 

u Intemperance creates more than half of the beggary that 
exists among ns. It is intemperance that renders desolate so 
many homes, it is intemperance that brings ruin to so many 
families. It is of no use to enlarge upon this cause ; but it 
would be impossible to exaggerate the influence of intemperance 
in making misery." 

Ex-bailie Blackadder stated at a public meeting held at 
Edinburgh, in 1867 : " After an experience of between 
twenty and thirty years in connection with the management 
of the poor, he felt bound to say that the cases of pauper- 
ism were rare and exceptional where he did not discover 
drink to be directly or indirectly the procuring cause." 

Rev. Mr. Miller, Superintendent of the Edinburgh City 
Mission, fully confirmed this testimony by saying : " that 
the experience of the city missionaries went to prove that 
nine out of every ten causes of pauperism coming before his 
notice were in one way or another associated with drinking. 

Another clergyman, in answer to a question before a 
Parliamentary Committee, said : "I know it for a fact, for 
I have gone over the roll with the Inspector, and I know 
it is his opinion as well as my own, and the opinion of all 
who have gone over the roll minutely, that three-fourths of 
the cases on the roll are attributable to drink, directly or 
indirectly." 

David Lewis, a Magistrate of Edinburgh, and for many 
years a member of the Parochial Board, also testified : 

u Drinking and drunkenness are, I think, the cause of three- 
fourths of all the pauperism that we have to do with in Edin- 
burgh. In December, 1864, I was anxious to get at something 
like reliable information on this point, and I applied for a re- 
turn, which I got after entering a scrutiny into every individual 
case. The house was then full, that is to the number of 611, 



Intemperance, and Pauperism, 237 

and I found that there were 407 of that number reduced to 
their impoverished condition through drink. 7 ' * 

It is said of this class of people in Scotland : 

u Beer is even a standard of value among the lowest classes 
of the poor. Such expressions as 'the price of a pint,' 'worth a 
pot/ ' stood a gallon/ are the usual modes of expressing value 
among the pauperized poor. Dangerous indeed must be that 
section of society (and it is a large one) whose standard of 
value is the pot of beer." f 

Similar results are noticeable in Ireland. 

" During the reign of Philip and Mary, such was the rage for 
? Usquebaugh ' that the inhabitants of Ireland converted their 
grain into spirit to such an extent as not to leave themselves 
sufficient for food to sustain life. Famine and privation were 
the result, and to prevent a recurrence of this state of things, 
the legislature passed an act to check the practice of free distil- 
lation. When famine again desolated that ill-fated land, in 
1847-8, and the greatest distress and privation were experienced 
by the poor, it was distinctly proved that we had an ample sup- 
ply of grain to meet the necessities of the people ; but instead 
of being brought into the market to be disposed of as food, it 
was locked up in the granaries of breweries and distilleries to 
be wantonly destroyed in the manufacture of intoxicating 
liquor ; as a terrible result, half a million of people perished 
by starvation." t 

Severe as the recent famine has been in that ill-starred 
land, and enormous in amount as have been the sums raised 
in this country for the relief of the sufferers, it is stated that 
not a distillery in Ireland has been closed in consequence, 
but that the worse than waste of grain which they occasion, 
has greatly added to the miseries of the Irish. Who can 
wonder, then, at what is said to be the old Irish proverb : 
" If you wish for prosperity in Ireland, pray that God may 
send us a famine ; but if you wish for destruction, petition 
the legislature to legalize distillation. " § 

* Britain's Social State, pp. 74, 75. 

t Convocation (Canterbury) Report, p. 82. 

t Powell, p. 46. 

§ Teetotaller's Companion, p. 384. 



238 Alcohol in History. 

u France expended in 1861, 108,441,828 francs upon its poor, in 
1,557 asylums and hospitals, and yet half the cities of France, 
and rather more, are unprovided for by public assistance, and 
according to the best French authorities, misery is hardly re- 
lieved, notwithstanding the large sum applied for its allevi- 
ation, and they had 337,838 vagrant beggars. Paris expended 
in 1869, 23,806,027 francs for in-and-out-door relief to 317,742 
persons out of a population of 1,799,880." * 

The following confessions solve the mystery of such 
poverty and debasement : 

The Paris Constitutionnel said in 1872 : " The habit of drunken- 
ness has increased in France year by year since the beginning 
of this century. The French race is deteriorating daily. In 
forty years tl^e consumption of alcohol has tripled in France." 
A French magazine writes : ' ' Drunkenness is the beginning 
and end of life in the great French industrial centres, among 
women as well as men. Twenty-five out of every one hundred 
men and twelve out of every one hundred women in Lisle are 
confirmed drunkards." 

u The kingdom of Prussia has over 486,179 paupers, and gives 
public relief to 4.89 per cent, of its entire population. In 60 of 
its largest towns, 18.12 per cent, of the population are recipients 
of public charity ; in 238 towns next in rank, 7.3S per cent, ; and 
in 672 of the smallest towns 4.91 per cent, are relieved. 

" Saxony, with 2,337,192 population, has 2,540 poor-houses, 
and relieves 41,547 poor. 

" Bavaria, with 4,730,977 population, relieved 79,863 poor, and 
swarms with tramps and beggars as hardly any other country 
does. 

" Wurtemberg, with a population of 1,400,000, has 1,842 poor- 
houses, and 16,734 recipients of public charity. 

" Austria, exclusive of Hungary, relieves 171,768 poor. 

" Italy, exclusive of Rome and other districts, counts, in a 
population of 18,599,029, 1,115,126 poor, upon whom large sums 
are expended. 

" Belgium had in 1868, 550,000 poor. Of its 908,000 families, 
446,000 are public paupers. It spends on its poor $10,673,792. 

" Sweden, with a population of 4,114,141, had in 1865, 140,000 
poor, at a cost of $1,100,000. 

" Denmark had 1,784,741 population, and 74,324 poor relieved. 

* Royce, on Deterioration, p. 522. 



Intemperance and Pauperism. 239 

" Norway, with 1,720,500 population, had 180,000 poor re- 
lieved. 

" Germany has 900,000 paupers."* 

In the United States there is less system and accuracy 
in collecting the statistics of pauperism than in the older 
countries ; but enough is known to make evident to all who 
read and observe, that here, as elsewhere, pauperism exists 
in proportion to drunkenness. For example : The Secre- 
tary of the State of New York, reported to the Legislature, 
in 1863, that the whole number of paupers relieved during 
the year 1862, was 257,354. These numbers were at that 
time in the ratio of one to every fifteen inhabitants of the 
State. A competent Committee made an examination of 
the history of these paupers, and reported that " seven- 
eighths of them were reduced to this low and degraded con- 
dition, directly or indirectly, through intemperance." 

" The Pauper returns, made annually for a long time to the 
Secretary of the State of Massachusetts, show an average of about 
80 per cent, as due to this cause in the County of Suffolk (mainly 
the city of Boston). Thus, in 1863, the whole number relieved 
is stated at 12,248. Of these, the number made dependent 
by their own intemperance is given as 6,048 ; and the number 
so made by the intemperance of parents and guardians at 3,837 ; 
making an aggregate of 9,885. 

" The Third Report of the Board of State Charities, page 202, 
(Jan. 1867), declares intemperance to be ' the chief occasion of 
pauperism ; ' and the Fifth Report says : ' Overseers of the poor 
variously estimate the proportion of crime and pauperism attri- 
butable to the vice of intemperance from one-third in some 
localities up to nine-tenths in others. This seems large, but is 
doubtless correct in regard to some localities, and particularly 
among the class of persons receiving temporary relief, the 
greater proportion of whom are of foreign birth or descent.' 

u In the Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Health (Jan- 
uary, 1875,) page 45, under the head of i Intemperance as a 
Cause of Pauperism/ the chairman, Dr. Bowditch, gives the re- 
sult of answers received from 282 of the towns and cities to the 
two following questions : 

* Ibid, pp. 523, 524. 



240 Alcohol in History. 

1. "What proportion of the inmates of your almshouses are 
there in consequence of the deleterious use of intoxicating 
liquors ? " 

2. u What proportion of the children in the house are there in 
cousequence of the drunkenness of x>arents ? " 

" While it appears that in the country towns the proportion 
is quite variable and less than the general current of statistics 
would lead one to expect, which is fairly attributable in part, 
at least, to the extent to which both law and public opinion has 
restricted the use and traffic in liquors, yet we have from the 
city of Boston, the headquarters of the traffic, this emphatic 
testimony from the superintendent of the Deer Island Alms- 
house and Hospital : ' I would answer the above by saying, to 
the best of my knowledge and belief, 90 per cent, to both 
questions. Our register shows that full one-third of the in- 
mates received for the last two years are here through the 
direct cause of drunkenness. Very few inmates (there are ex- 
ceptions) in this house but what rum brought them here. 
Setting aside the sentenced boys (sent here for truancy, petty 
theft, etc.) nine-tenths of the remainder are here through the 
influence of the use of intoxicating liquors by the parents. The 
great and almost the only cause for so much poverty and distress 
in the city can be traced to the use of intoxicating drink either 
by the husband or wife, or both. 7 n 

" A startling testimony as to the effect of this cause in pro- 
ducing the allied evil and even nuisance of vagrancy, is given in 
the answer from the city of Springfield : l In addition to circu- 
lar, I would say that we have lodged and fed eight thousand 
and fifty-two persons that we call ' tramps ; ? and I can seldom 
find a man among them who was not reduced to that condition 
by intemperance. It is safe to say nine-tenths are drunkards, 
though we have not the exact records. ' " * 

Effects of Ixtemperaxce <ot Health. — The testi- 
mony of eminent medical men who have studied into the 
laws of health, and have had extensive practice in the 
treatment of disease in its various forms, is uniformly to the 
effect that alcohol is a destructive poison to the human 
system, deranging all its functions, and producing death. 

Sir Henry Thompson, whose warning against so-called 

* Alcohol and the State, pp. 30-32. 



Effects of ' ^Intemperance on Health. 241 

moderate drinking, we have elsewhere recorded, says in the 
same letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury : 

" I have no hesitation in attributing a very large proportion 
of some of the most fearful and dangerous maladies which come 
under my notice, as well as those Trhich every medical man has to 
treat, to the ordinary and daily use of fermented drinks, taken 
in the quantity which is conventionally deemed moderate." 

Sir William Carpenter, the eminent physiologist and 
scientist, endorses the following opinion, signed by more 
than 2,000 medical men, from court physician to country 
practitioner : 

" That the most perfect health is compatible with total absti- 
nence from all intoxicating beverages, whether in the form of 
ardent spirits or as wine, beer, ale, porter, cider, etc. That total 
and universal abstinence from alcoholic beverages of all sorts 
would greatly contribute to the health ... of the human 
race." 

And Dr. Cheyne, in his practical Essays on the Eegimen 
of Diet, says : 

" For fermented liquors, I know no command, counsel, or 
example. Certainly wise Nature, who has provided liberally 
supplies for all wants, has furnished none of it. It is the inven- 
tion of spurious and luxurious art. It is present death to many, 
and the natural aversion of all animals who follow pure Nature. 
It certainly shortens the duration of life to all that use it even 
with moderation, and it is the alone adequate cause of all the 
mortal, painful, atrocious distempers. As a medicine, for pres- 
ent relief, and as a bitter chalybeate potion, on occasions and 
extremities, it might be a tolerable medicine ; but as a common 
beverage, it is a slow but certain poison." 

Another English writer, — pronounced by the late Gov- 
ernor John A. Andrew, in his speech before a Committee 
of the Massachusetts Legislature, in opposition to a Prohib- 
itory Law, to be : " One of the most able English scien- 
tific critics, 77 — says in the u Cornhill Magazine " of Septem 
ber, 1852 : 

" And first, as to the effect of long-continued habits of alco- 
holic excess upon the general health of the body, these may be 
summed up in brief by one word — degeneration. Degeneration 
16 



242 Alcohol in History. 

of structure and chemical composition is the inevitable fate of 
the tissues of the drunkard. Apart from moral influences, all 
that we see of physical misery, of weakened intellect, of short, 
ened life m the habitual drunkard, is due to this degeneration 
of tissue, which is gradually, but infallibly brought about by 
alcoholic excess. Even the very blood, the beginning of all tis- 
sues, is affected in a similar way, as we might expect. 

There is no doubt that in excessive doses, alcohol, if it be 
a food at all, is a very bad one, and we must remember that the 
drunkard does in fact test its capacity to act as food ; for by his 
habits he so impairs his appetite that he can take very little, if 
any ordinary food." 

And Dr. James Edmunds, a distinguished English phy- 
sician, said, in a course of lectures given in New York, in 
1874, on the medical use of alcohol and stimulants for 
women : 

" Now recollect that food is that which puts strength into a 
man, and stimulant that which gets strength out of a man ; so 
that when you want to use stimulant, recollect that you are 
using that which will exhaust the last particles of strength with 
a facility with which your body would not otherwise part with 
them. If a man takes a pint of brandy, what do we see ? It 
intoxicates, it poisons him. Of course you know intoxicant is a 
modification of the Greek word toxicon. The man who is intox- 
icated is poisoned ; we simply use a Greek instead of a Saxon 
word for it. We see a man intoxicated. What are the pheno- 
mena we see then ? A man lies on his back snoring, helpless, 
senseless. If you set him up, he falls down again like a sack of 
potatoes. If you try to rouse him you get nothing out of him 
but a grunt. Is that the effect of a stimulant, do you think ? 
I should think it is the effect of a paralyzer that you have — 
mind, and body, and nerve and muscle, all equally and uni- 
formly paralyzed right through . . . Alcohol in a large dose is 
a narcotic poison, which paralyzes the body and stupefies the 
mind. If a man takes a somewhat larger doze, what do you see 
then? You see that snoring and breathing come to an end — 
you see that the soft, flabby pulsations of the heart cease ; that 
the spark of life goes out, and the man can not be resuscitated. 
In fact, there are more men killed, so far as I know English 
statistics, more men poisoned in that way by alcohol than are 
poisoned by all other poisons put together. We have a great 
horror of arsenic and fifty other thiugs ; the fact is, that all 
these other things are a mere bagatelle in relation to the most 



Effects of Intemperance on Health 243 

direct, absolute, immediate, and certain poisonings which are 
caused by alcohol." 

Dr. Stephen Smith, of New York, says, in a Paper on 
u Alcohol : Its Nature and Effects :" 

" An agent which has no properties necessary to the normal 
condition of the body, and which is capable in many ways 
of perverting its functions, cannot be continuously employed 
for any considerable period without seriously impairing organs 
and tissues. Alcohol, it is seen, at first, causes a relaxation of 
the arteries, and cou sequent excited action of the heart, fol- 
lowed by depression when the effects entirely pass off. The 
frequent repetition of this act creates an unnatural condition 
of these organs, and a tendency to require its continuance by 
the constant resort to the original means. Eelief to depression 
is found only in a renewal of the potion, and every unusual 
mental or physical strain is sought to be sustained by the same 
means. Alcohol thus in time becomes the habitual resort of the 
individual whose physiological condition has been originally 
perverted by its subtile influence. Meantime, the arteries and 
minute vessels become permanently dilated ; and the heart, sub- 
jected to excessive work, is enlarged, its orifices are increased 
in size, and its valves overstretched ; fatty degeneration follows, 
and sudden death. Thus, the entire circulatory system is 
thoroughly perverted from its normal condition and function. 
The integrity of the blood is impaired, and nutrition is perver- 
ted. These results can but be followed by corresponding 
changes of a degenerative character in other tissues and organs 
throughout the entire system. The liver at first enlarges and 
then undergoes slow contraction, producing the well-known 
' hobnailed ' or drunkard's liver ; or it may change to a condi- 
tion of fat ; or, finally, grape-sugar may be developed within 
the body, causing fatal diabetes. The kidneys may change to fat, 
or undergo contraction, giving rise to Bright's Disease. The 
lungs have their vessels enlarged and weakened, and are thus 
rendered very susceptible to fatal pneumonia during the cold 
season. The nervous system undergoes various degenerations, 
the vessels are changed, the membrane thickened, the tissue of 
nerve centre and cord is gradually changed, and thus the func- 
tions are changed, causing epilepsy, paralysis, insanity. The 
digestive organs gradually lose their tone, less and less substan- 
tial food is taken, constipation is obstinate, assimilation be- 
comes more and more impaired. Then follows muscular debil- 
ity, with its attendant feebleness and want of endurance. Fi- 



244 Alcohol in History. 

nally, all the tissues lose their native integrity, waste exceeds 
supply, and the victim of alcoholic poisoning falls an easy prey 
to some intercurrent disease, or sinks into noiseless senility." * 

Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, perhaps the highest 
Medical authority in America, said, at a meeting of the 
" American Association for the Cure of Inebriates : v 

"What is alcohol? The answer is — a poison. It is so re- 
garded by the best writers and teachers on toxicology. I refer 
to Orfila, Christison, and the like, who class it with arsenic, 
corrosive sublimate, and prussic acid. Like these poisons, when 
introduced into the system, it is capable of destroying life with- 
out acting mechanically. The character of alcohol being es- 
tablished, we investigate its physiological and pathological 
action upon the living system. It has been established that, 
like opium, arsenic, prussic acid, &c, in small doses, it acts as 
a mild stimulant and tonic. In larger doses, it becomes a pow- 
erful irritant, producing madness, or a narcotic, producing 
coma and death. 77 f 

In a recent letter to the writer, Dr. Parker says : 

" The character of alcohol is settled : it is a foreign substance 
to the body when in a physiological state; it is like a mote in 
the eye. 

" It produces disease of the system, like other poisons, and 
when not too long used, the system will regain health or rid it- 
self of the poison, as in other cases. 

"Its fearful heredity is now admitted, vide Elam's Problems. 
Arrest the use of intoxicants and you lay the axe to the root of 
Insanity, Idiocy, Pauperism, etc. 77 

The foregoing are not mere opinions, but are necessary 
deductions from facts wbich have come under the observa- 
tion of men who have had to do with every known form of 
physical disease and weakness. What a sad record those 
facts furnish ! We present here merely a page from the 
immense volume in which they are written. 

Dr. Hardwicke, coroner for Central Middlesex, comment- 
ing' upon a paper before the late Social Science Congress 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp 256, 257. 
f Proceedings of the First Meetkig, 1870, p. 2, 



Effects of Intemperance on Health. 245 

by Dr. Norman Kerr, who stated the annual alcoholic 
death-rate of Great Britain at 120,000, spoke of the as1 
ishment which he felt at one time when he traced the 
history of those dying in the district over which he was 
officer of health. He said : 

"He found hardly any deaths attributed to alcohol, and lie 
knew this must be quite inaccurate. He found the causes of 
death returned as disease of brain, heart, or liver, sun -stroke, 
etc. When he ascertained the truth, he found that alcohol was 
the cause of more deaths than all other causes put together — 
that is, at certain ages. Between twenty-five and fifty he found 
something like thirty to fifty per cent, had been really killed by 
alcohol. Dr. Kerr, though he was the first to place this matter 
on a scientific basis, had been wonderfully cautious and exact, 
and he was convinced that that gentleman's estimate of 12-'*,0C0 
dying annually from their own intemperance or the intemper- 
ance of others was under rather than over the truth. Dr. Kerr's 
conclusions were staggering, but from his own experience, both 
as the medical officer of health of a large borough and as coro- 
ner, holding 1,500 inquests a year, he was convinced that the 
estimate would ultimately be found to be an under-estimate. 
If such fatality, which really was after all preventable, were to 
occur among sheep and pigs, the country and the farmers would 
be all up in arms ; but no one seemed to care for the slaughter of 
human beings by alcohol. Health officers, too, ought to call 
the attention of their vestries to the great death-rate through 
alcohol." 

Dr. Hooper, in his " Physician's Vade Mecinn," says : 

"It has been ascertained that in men peculiarly exposed to 
the temptation of drinking, the mortality before thirty-five 
years of age is twice as great as in men following similar occu- 
pations, but less liable to fall into this fatal habit. It has also 
been shown that the rate of mortality among persons addicted 
to intemperance is more than three times as great as among the 
population at large. At the earlier periods of life the dispro- 
portion is still greater, being five times as great between twenty 
and thirty years of age, and four times as great between thirty 
and fifty. The annual destruction of life among persons of de- 
cidedly intemperate habits has been estimated at upwards of 
3000 males, and nearly 700 females, in a population of nearly 
54,000 males, and upwards of 11,000 females addicted to intem- 
perance. (That is, of males the death-rate is 55 per 1000 per 



246 Alcohol in History. 

annum, and of females 63 per 1000 per annum, while the gene- 
ral death-rate of the whole country and at all ages, is only 23 
per 1000). The greater number of these deaths are due to de- 
lirium tremens and diseases of the brain, and to dropsical affec- 
tions supervening on diseases of the liver and kidneys. "* 

Mr. Wakely, former Coroner for Middlesex, says : 

" I have seen so much of the evil effects of gin, that I am in- 
clined to become a Teetotaller. Gin is the best friend I have ; 
it causes me to hold more inquests than I otherwise should hold ; 
and I have reason to believe that from 10,000 to 15,000 die in 
this metropolis annually from the effects of gin, upon whom no 
inquests are held." f 

"In Scotland, in 1823, the whole consumption of intoxicating 
liquors amounted to 2,300,000 gallons; in 1837 to 6,776,735 gal- 
lons. In the mean time crime increased 400 per cent., fever 
1,600 per cent., death 300 per cent., and the chances of human 
life diminished 44 per cent." $ 

In the Twenty-third Registration Report of Massachu- 
setts (pages 61, et seq.) will be found instructive tables, 
selected and digested by Dr. Edward Jarvis, from the result 
of the investigations of Mr. Neison, Actuary of the Medical, 
Invalid, and General Life Insurance Company of London. 
It is necessary to premise, in order to appreciate the full 
force of the tables, that under the designation " General 
Population " are of course included both the temperate and 
intemperate 5 and that the latter designation includes " only 
such as were decidedly addicted to drinking habits, and 
not merely occasional drinkers or free livers." The same 
general result is displayed in several ways, thus : 

" Rate per cent, of Annual Mortality : 

Among Beer Drinkers 4,597 

Spirit Drinkers 5,995 

Mixed Drinkers 6,149 

General Population, Males 2,316 

Females 2,143 

" If the death rate of the general population he constantly 

* Cited in Bacchus Dethroned, p. 30. t Ibid, p. 33. 

t Dr. Nott's Lectures, p. 25. 



Mental Disease, and Hereditary Results. 24:7 

represented by 10, for purposes of comparison, then the death 
rate among the intemperate between the ages of 15 and 20 
would be represented by 18 ; between 20 and 30, by 51 ; between 
30 and 40, by 42 ; between 50 and 6J, by 29, and so on. 

"If we take 100,000 intemperate persons and 100,000 of the 
general population, starting at the age of twenty years, we shall 
find there will be living at successive periods as follows : 

Age. Intemperate. General Population. 

25 81,975 95,712 

30 64,114 91,577 

35 50,746...... 86,830 

40 ...39,671 82,082 

50 21,938 70,666 

60 11,568 56,355 

70 5,076 35,220 

80 807 13,169 

These tables preach their own sermon." * 

Said Dr. Willard Parker, in remarks made in New York 
not long since : 

" Another point settled is that a drinking family dies out in 
three or four generations. Take one of your best families, and 
let them commence when twenty, and go on with this drinking ; 
in the third or fourth generation the family becomes extinct. 

* * * Now, as our statistics show, and from following up 
these matters, we find that out of the children that are born in 
these New York slums, over ninety per cent, die during the first 
year — ninety per cent. ; that leaves ten per cent. Now take the 
ninety per cent., and place them against those who attain the 
good, substantial middle age or old age, and when you strike 
the balance it makes a very bad balance for us. Drunkards be- 
get drunkards, and they beget a race that is soon to be de- 
stroyed.' 7 f 

Drinking and Mental Disease, and Hereditary 
Results. — Few things are more sad to contemplate than 
are mental aberration and decay. To detect and remove 
the causes of such ruin would be to confer inestimable good 

* Alcohol and the State, pp. 35, 36. 

t See preceding remarks on Moderate Drinking ; also for 
many facts and references, Dr. Hargreaves' "Alcohol, what it 
Is and what it Does." 



248 Alcohol in History. 

upon the race. Says a widely acknowledged authority on 
this subject : 

" While we must admit hereditary influence to be the most 
powerful factor in the causation of insanity, there can he no 
doubt that intemperance stands next to it in the list of efficient 
causes : it acts not only as a frequent exciting cause where 
there is hereditary predisposition, but as an originating cause' 
of cerebral and mental degeneracy, as a producer of the cause 
de novo. If all hereditary causes of insanity were cut off, and if 
the disease were thus stamped out for a time, it would assuredly 
soon be created anew by intemperance and other excesses. A 
striking example of the effects of intemperance in producing 
insanity has recently been furnished by the experience of the 
Glamorgan County Asylum. During the second half of the 
year 1871, the admissions of male patients were only 24, where- 
as they were 47 and 73 in the preceding and succeeding half 
years. During the first quarter of the year 1873, they were 10, 
whereas they were 21 and 18 in the preceding and succeeding 
quarters. There was no corresponding difference as regards 
female admissions. There was, however, a similar experience 
at the county prison, the production of crime, as well as of 
insanity, having diminished in a striking manner. Now the 
interest and instruction of these facts lie in this — that the 
exceptional periods corresponded exactly with the last two 
* strikes ? in the coal and iron industries, in which Glamorgan- 
shire is extensively engaged. The decrease was undoubtedly 
due mainly to the fact that the laborers had no money to spend 
in drinking and debauchery, that they were sober and temper- 
ate by compulsion, the direct result of which was that there was 
a marked decrease in the production of insanity and of crime. 

" If men took careful thought of the best use which they 
could make of their bodies, they would probably never take 
alcohol except as they would take a dose of medicine, in order 
to serve some special purpose. It is idle to say that there is any 
real necessity for persons who are in good health to indulge in 
any kind of alcoholic liquors. At the best it is an indulgence 
which is unnecessary ; at the worst, it is a vice which occasions 
infinite misery, sin, crime, madness, and disease. Short of the 
patent and undeniable ills which it is admitted on all hands 
to produce, it is at the bottom of manifold mischiefs which are 
never brought home to it. How much ill work would not be 
dene, how much good work would be better done, but for its 
baneful inspiration. Each act of crime, each suicide, each out- 
break of madness, each disease, occasioned by it, means an in- 



Mental Disease, and Hereditary Besults. 249 

finite amount of suffering endured and inflicted before matters 
have reached that climax." * 

Dr. Austin Flint, in his " Principles and Practice of 

Medicine/ 7 says : 

" The deleterious influence of alcohol on the mental is not 
less marked than on the physical powers. The inebriate exem- 
plifies a variety of the forms of mental derangement, called dip- 
somania, from which recovery is extremely rare. The percep- 
tions are blunted, the intellectual and moral faculties progress- 
ively deteriorate, until at length the confirmed inebriate, 
miserably cachetic in body and imbruted in mind, has but one 
object in life, namely, to gratify the morbid cravings of 
alcohol." 

Dr. M. H. Romberg, of Germany, says, in writing of the 
u Diseases of the Nerves and Brain : " 

"The diseased condition of the blood and its vessels exerts an 
undoubted influence on the mind. The affections of the mind, 
such as vertigo, dizziness, fear, terror, etc., are caused in a 
great measure by the continued use of spirituous liquors and 
other narcotics, taken into the blood, that inflamed the blood- 
vessels of the nerves and brain." " The state of the blood is 
depraved by these poisons, and it (thus depraved) reacts upon 
the brain. It affects the nerves of the eye so as to make it see 
sights that do not exist ; and upon the nerves of sound, so as to 
make them hear sounds that do not exist, such as boiling, 
screeching, hammering, cutting, etc. After a time the mind 
becomes clouded, and sopor, and paralysis^ and death inter- 
vene." 

Says Dt. John Higginbottom : u Alcohol is particularly des- 
tructive to the brain and nervous system, and consequently, to 
the mental and physical powers of the whole body. Drunken- 
ness and insanity appear so near akin, that drunkenness has 
been called voluntary insanity, and we often find that such vol- 
untary insanity terminates in involuntary and incurable insan- 
ity." 

Dr. Morel, after seventeen years' experience in Insane 
Asylums in France, says : 

u There is always a hopeless number of paralytic and other 

* Eesponsibility in Mental Disease. By Henry Maudsley, 
M. D., pp. 283-285. 



250 Alcohol in History. 

insane persons in onr (French) hospitals, whose disease is due 
to no other cause than the abuse of alcoholic liquors. In one 
thousand, upon whom I have made especial observation, not 
less than two hundred owed their mental disorder to no other 



Behics, in a " Report on the Physical Causes of Insanity 
in France," says that of eight thousand and eight hundred 
male lunatics, and seven thousand one hundred female 
lunatics, thirty-four per cent, of the men, and six per cent, 
of the women were made insane by intemperance. 

Motet, another French writer, speaking of cases of in- 
sanity examined by him, says: "Among eight thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-seven cases of the insane from 
physical causes, three thousand and forty-four were drunk- 
ards." 

Dr. Hiram Cox, while Physician to the Probate Court of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, examined upwards of four hundred cases 
of insanity, previous to sending them to the State Asylum, 
and found that " two-thirds of their number became insane 
from drinking the poisonous liquors sold at the doggeries 
and taverns of our city and county." * 

Dr. James Edmunds, in his Lecture on the " Medical Use 
of Alcohol and Stimulants for Women," before cited, says : 

" It is admitted by every one that alcohol is the cause of more 
than half the insanity we have. I am not so familiar with the 
facts on this subject here as I should naturally be at the other 
side of the Atlantic. ... I know this : that Lord Shaftes- 
bury, the chairman of our commission on lunacy in England, 
has said, in a parliamentary report on the subject, that six out 
of ten lunatics in out asylums are made lunatic by the use of 
alcohol. It is a fact which can not be disputed that diseases of 
the liver, diseases of the lungs, diseases of the tissues of the 
body, are induced directly by the use of alcohol, and that as a 
general rule you may say that where you have alcohol used 
most largely and most frequently, there these diseases and de- 
generations in the tissues of the body become most marked. I 
could give you very authoritative facts bearing upon this mat- 

* Cited by Story, in u Alcohol, its Nature and Effects," pp. 
227-288. 



Mental Disease, and Hereditary Besults. 251 

ter from sources which are not open to the imputation of any 
kind of moral bias, as the utterances of some of our temperance 
friends may be open to." 

And Dr. B. W. Richardson, in an Address at the Royal 
Albert Hall, in London, in 1877, said : 

" We know, now, scientific ally j that alcohol excites the men- 
tal power unduly, then depresses it into melancholy, and so 
often brings it to complete aberration, that in some of our insti- 
tutions for the insane as many as 40 per cent, of those who en- 
ter per year are made to enter from this one simple cause alone." 

Dr. F. R. Lees, has collected statistics showing that : 

" The number of deranged people in a country corresponds 
very closely with the amount of strong drink they consume. 
Till the introduction of fire-water among the American Indians, 
insanity was unknown. In Cairo, comparatively teetotal, there 
is one insane person to every 30,714 of the inhabitants. In 
Spain, comparatively sober, the consumption of alcohol being 
only one gallon per head per annum, there is one insane person 
in every 7,181. In Xormandy, consuming two gallons, one in 
every 551. In England, consuming two and a half gallons, the 
proportion is one in every 430 of the inhabitants." * 

According to Royce : " When the duty on spirits was 
removed in Xorway, in 1825, between that time and 1835 
insanity increased 50 per cent., and idiocy 150 per cent." 

Sweden consumes 25,000,000 gallons of spirits, though it 
has but 3,000,000 population — of whom but half are of an 
age to drink — and the consequence is that insanity, suicide 
and crime are fearfully common among them."t 

1 i In Prussia," says Dr. Finkelburg, member of the Prus- 
sian Commission of Public Health, "one person in 450 is 
insane. The cause is chiefly the abuse of alcoholic 
liquors." 

" Of 490 maniacs," writes the Bishop of London, " in one 
hospital, 257 were deprived of reason by drinking. . . . 

* Prize Essay on the Liquor Traffic, p. 199. 
f Smith's Temperance Reformation, p. 60. 



252 Alcohol in History. 

Of 780 maniacs in different hospitals, 392 were deprived of 
reason in the same way." * 

Says Dr. Townson, of Liverpool : " It is part of my 
duty to examine pauper lunatics in considerable numbers, 
and into the history of each I have to inquire, and my con- 
viction is this, that five out of every six of the lunatics of 
the workhouse have been reduced to that condition by in- 
temperance." t 

The chief horror of this great evil considered in a mental 
or moral point of view, is, that these deplorable consequences 
of drinking are not confined to those who use the intoxicat- 
ing cup, but are entailed upon their offspring through several 
generations. Morell, who has made the study of the causes 
of human deterioration a specialty, cites many cases of 
children of inebriates cursed in later years with the here- 
ditary bent of excessive alcoholism, leaving one insane 
asylum for another, and ending in marasmus, general par- 
alysis, a perfectly brutal condition, and the utter extinction 
of reason and conscience. " I constantly find," he says, 
"the children of drunkards in the asylums for the insane, in 
prisons and houses of correction. The deviation from the 
normal type of humanity shows itself in these victims by the 
arrest of the development of their constitutional system as 
well as by a vicious intellectual disposition and cruel in- 
stincts." x 

Maudsley also says : 

" A host of facts might be brought forward to prove that 
drunkenness in parents, especially that form of drunkenness 
known as dipsomania, which breaks out from time to time in 
uncontrollable paroxysms, is a cause of idiocy, suicide or insa- 
nity in their offspring." § 

Dr. Brown says, in his "Hereditary Tendency to In- 
sanity : " 

* Deterioration and Race Education, pp. 428, 429. 

t Teetotaller's Companion, p. 287. 

X Cited by Roycc, p. 426. 

§ Responsibility in Mental Disease, p. 43. 



Mental Disease, and Hereditary Besults. 253 

" The drunkard injures and enfeebles his own nervous system, 
and entails mental disease upon his family. His daughters are 
nervous and hysterical, his sons are weak, wayward, eccentric, 
and sink insane, under the pressure of excitement, from some 
unforeseen exigency, or of the ordinary calls of duty. This heri- 
tage may be the result of a ruined and diseased constitution ; but 
it is much more likely to proceed from that long continued ner- 
vous excitement, in which pleasure was sought in the alternate 
exaltation of sentiment and oblivion which exhausted and wore 
out the mental powers, and ultimately produced imbecility and 
paralysis, both attributable to disease of the substance of the 
brain." * 

Dr. Bay, one of the highest authorities in America on the 
subject of insanity, says ; 

" Another potent agency in vitiating the quality of the brain 
is habitual intemperance, and the effect is far oftener witnessed 
in the offspring than in the drunkard himself. His habits may 
induce an attack of insanity where the predisposition exists ; 
but he generally escapes with nothing worse than the loss 
of some of his natural vigor and hardihood of mind. In the off- 
spring, however, on whom the consequences of the parental vice 
may be visited, to the third if not the fourth generation, the 
cerebral disorder may take the form of intemperance, or idiocy, 
or insanity, or vicious habits, or impulses to crime, or some 
minor mental obliquities." t 

Dr. Storer, of Boston, alluding to certain statements made 
by Dr. Day 7 Superintendent of the Washingtonian Home, 
In that city, says : 

u Reference has been made by the doctor to the dire effects so 
often seen by medical men in the persons of the children of 
those addicted to habits of intoxication — epilepsy, idiocy, and 
insanity, congenital or subsequently developing themselves, 
with or without any apparent exciting cause. He has not, 
however, I think, sufficiently held up to the victims of this 
baleful thirst the terrible curse they thus deliberately entail 
upon their descendants." 

And the Massachusetts Board of State Charities, in their 

* Cited in Teetotaller's Companion, pp. 288-9. 
t Mental Hygiene, p. 44. 



254 Alcohol in History. 

Report for 1866, in speaking of u one prolific cause of the 
vitiation of the human stock," say : 

That prolific cause is tlie common habit of taking alcohol into 
the system, usually as the basis of spirits, wine or beer. .* . . 
The basis being the same in all, the constitutional effects are 
about the same. The use of alcohol materially modifies a man's 
bodily condition ; and, so far as it affects him individually, it 
is his own affair ; but if it affects also the number and condition 
of his offspring, that affects society. If its general use does 
materially influence the number and condition of the dependent 
and criminal classes, it is the duty of all who have thought and 
care about social improvement to consider the matter carefully, 
and it is the special duty of those having official relations with 
those classes to furnish facts and materials for public considera- 
tion. It is well known that alcohol acts unequally upon man's 
nature ; that it stimulates the lower propensities and weakens 
the higher faculties. . . . and represses the functions which, 
manifest themselves in the higher or human sentiments which 
result in will. If the blood, highly alcoholized, goes to the 
brain, its functions become subverted ; the man does not know 
and does not care what he says or does. If this process is often 
repeated . . . the man is no longer under control of his volun- 
tary power, but has come under the dominion of automatic 
functions, which are almost as much beyond his control as the 
beating of his heart. Any morbid condition of body frequently 
repeated becomes established by habit . . . and makes him 
more liable to certain diseases, as gout, scrofula, insanity and 
the like. This liability or tendency he transmits to his children 
just as surely as he transmits likeness in form or feature . . „ 
Now the use of alcohol certainly does induce a morbid condition 
of body. It is morally certain that the frequent or the habitual 
overthrow of the conscience and will, or the habitual weakening 
of them, soon establishes a morbid condition, with morbid 
appetites and tendencies, and that those appetites and tenden- 
cies are surely transmitted to the offspring." 

" Again, it is admitted that an intemperate mother nurses 
her babe with alcoholized milk ; but it is not enough considered 
that a father gives to his offspring certain tendencies which lead 
surely to craving for stimulants. These cravings once indulged, 
grow to a passion, the vehemence of which passes the compre- 
hension of common men." 

Dr. A. Mitchell, one of the Scotch Lunacy Commis- 
sioners; stated in evidence before the Select Committee on 



Mental Disease, and Hereditary Results. 255 

Habitual Drunkards (1872) that " it is quite certain that the 
children of habitual drunkards are in a larger proportion 
idiotic than other children, and in a larger proportion them- 
selves habitual drunkards 5 they are also in a larger pro- 
portion liable to the ordinary forms of acquired insanity." 

Professor Laycock, of Edinburgh, states that 80 per cent, 
of the children brought up in workhouses (whom he reckons 
300,000) prove failures when sent out into the world; 
most of them either swell the criminal class, or return to 
the workhouse, or become inmates of asylums : and he 
adds: 

" I might, if time allowed, point out how drunken, vicious 
imbeciles, tainting their offspring to the third and fourth gene- 
rations, serve to fill our asylums to overflowing. Dr. Carpenter 
quotes the testimony of Sir W. A. F. Browne, the first medical 
Lunacy Commissioner for Scotland, to the following effect : 
* The children of drunkards are deficient in bodily and vital 
energy, and are predisposed by their very organizations to 
have cravings for alcoholic stimulants. If they pursue the 
course of their fathers, while they have more temptations to 
follow and less power to avoid, they add to their hereditary 
weakness, and increase the tendency to idiocy or insanity in 
themselves and their children. '■ * 

And Dr. Willard Parker, than whom there is no higher 
authority in America concerning all matters pertaining to 
Medical Science, says, in a tract entitled " Remarks on the 
Hereditary Influence of Alcohol : ; ' 

'•'Of all agents, alcohol is the most potent in establishing a 
heredity that exhibits itself in the destruction of mind and 
body. Its malign influence was observed by the ancients long 
before the production of whiskey or brandy, or other distilled 
liquors, and when fermented liquors or wines only were known. 
Aristotle says, i Drunken women bring forth children like unto 
themselves/ and Plutarch remarks, i One drunkard begets an- 
other/ Lycurgus made drunkenness in women infamous by 
exhibitions, and Romulus made it punishable with death, be- 
cause the habit was regarded as leading to immorality, which 
would compromise the family integrity. But although the 

* Smith on the Temperance Reformation, pp. 62-3. 



256 Alcohol in History. 

broad features of alcoholism were appreciated by the ancients, 
later and more exact investigations liave thrown more light 
upon the subject. 

"The hereditary influence of alcohol manifests itself in vari- 
ous ways. It transmits an appetite for strong drink to the 
children, and these are likely to have that form of drunkenness 
which may be termed paroxysmal ; that is, they will go for a 
considerable period without indulging, placing restraint upon 
themselves, but at last all the barriers of self-control give way; 
they yield to the irresistible appetite, and then their indulgence 
is extreme. The drunkard by inheritance is a more helpless 
slave than his progenitor, and the children that he begets are 
more helpless still, unless on the mother's side there is engrafted 
upon them untainted stock. 

u But its hereditary influence is not confined to the propaga- 
tion of drunkards. It produces insanity, idiocy, epilepsy, and 
other affections of the brain and nervous system, not only in 
the transgressor himself, but in his children, and these will 
transmit predisposition to any of these diseases. Pritchard and 
Esquirol, two great authorities upon the subject, attribute half 
of the cases of insanity in England to the use of alcohol. Dr. 
Benjamin Rush believed that one-third of the cas?s of insanity 
in this country were caused by intemperance, and this was long 
before its hereditary potency was adequately appreciated. Dr. 
S. Gr. Howe attributed one-half of the cases of idiocy, in the 
State of Massachusetts, to intemperance, and he is sustained in 
his opinion by the most reliable authorities. Dr. Howe states 
that there were seven idiots in one family where both parents 
were drunkards. One-half of the idiots in England are of 
drunken parentage, and the same is ti'CLQ of Sweden, and pro- 
bably of most European countries. It is said, that in St. Peters- 
burg most of the idiots come from drunken parents. When al- 
coholism does not produce insanity, idiocy, or epilepsy, it 
weakens the conscience, impairs the will, and makes the indi- 
vidual the creature of impulse and not of reason. Dr. Carpen- 
ter regards it as more potent in weakening the will and arous- 
ing the more violent passions than any other agent, and thinks 
it not improbable that the habitual use of alcoholic beverages, 
which are produced in such great quantities in civilized coun- 
tries, has been one great cause of the hereditary tendency to in- 
sanity. In a work on the ( Diseases of Modern Life,' Dr. 
Richardson remarks: ' The solemnest fact of all bearing upon 
the physical deteriorations and upon the mental aberrations 
produced by alcohol, is, that the mischief inflicted by it on 
man through his own act, can not fail to be transmitted to 



Mental Disease, and Hereditary Results. 257 

those who descend from him, while the propensity to its nse 
descends also, making the evil interest compound in its total- 
ity.' But this is not stating the case as strongly as the truth 
demands. There is not only a propensity transmitted, but an 
actual disease of the nervous system, which not merely mani- 
fests itself in a propensity, hut in an uncontrollable impulse. I 
have "been acquainted with several men, having hrilliant and 
cultured minds, who inherited the vice, and they have stated 
to me that there were times when the impulse to drink strong 
liquor was perfectly irresistible, and that no offer could he 
made them which would dissuade them from yielding to it. 

" The researches of Morel on the causes of the formation of 
degenerate varieties of the human race, indicate the influence 
of the continuance of morhid action through succeeding gene- 
rations, and its power to finally cause extinction of the family; 
and it will he noticed how large a share drunkenness holds in 
the chain of causation. He gives the history of one family as 
follows: Firsx generation — the father was an hahitual drunk- 
ard, and was killed in a puhlic-house brawl. Second generation 
— Hereditary drunkenness, maniacal attacks, general paralysis. 
Third generation — The grandson was strictly sober, but was 
full of hypochondriacal and imaginary fears of persecutions, 
etc., and had homicidal tendencies. Fourth generation- Feeble 
intelligence, stupidity, first attack of mania at sixteen, transi- 
tion to complete idiocy and extinction of family. After all, may 
we not fairly entertain the question whether drunkenness was 
not the whole cause, or almost the whole, of all the other ab- 
normal characteristics of the case ? The thirteenth annual re- 
port of the New York Prison Association contains the genealogy 
of a family called ' Juke/ who have become historical, as af- 
fording one of the most illustrative cases on record of the here- 
ditary influence of alcohol and vice. My own experience 
has furnished me with many similar examples. To instance 
one : A merchant came to me for medical advice. He was a 
man in good circumstances, but was in the habit of getting in- 
toxicated every night before retiring. His mother also drank 
habitually, and died of paralysis. He had two brothers and 
three sisters ; he was the second brother and child. The oldest 
brother died a paroxysmal drunkard ; that is, he had, all his 
life, periodical fits of drunkenness. My patient was sober, and 
a successful merchant, but was always in a state of mental dis- 
comfort, and was suspicious and jealous to the most unreasona- 
ble degree. The third brother and child died a drunkard. The 
fourth child, a sister, was an inmate of a lunatic asylum. The 
fifth child was intolerable on account of her eccentricity. The 
17 



258 Alcohol in History. 

sixth child, also a female, died of consumption. The second 
son, my patient, married a woman of fine physical and mental 
organization. They had two sons ; the elder was associated with 
his father in business, and was an energetic man, hut exceed- 
ingly excitable, and although not an habitual drinker, was a 
slave to his other animal appetites. The other child was, when 
only five years old, very unmanageable and exceedingly prone 
to vicious habits. He was constantly running away, and would 
take every opportunity to commit theft. He was, in reality, a 
moral idiot. Here, in spite .of the restoring influence of the fine 
mental and physical organization of the mother, we see the ef 
fects of alcohol cropping out in the third generation, exhibiting 
unmistakable characteristics of the paternal side of the family ; 
traceable, in fact, to the habitual alcoholic indulgence of the 
grandparents. Thus, we do not always see the worst effects of 
the hereditary influence of alcohol, because of the frequent 
mingling of good blood with that which is tainted ; but in the 
most squalid portions of our large cities we often see the hered- 
itary tendency of alcoholism exhibited in aggravated forms. 
There many of the children are born of parents tainted on both 
sides, and these are brought into the world with constitutions 
so enfeebled that a large percentage of them die the first year, 
and those that live are unsound in mind and body. Indeed, 
from my own observations and the testimony of others, I am 
led to the conclusion, that by far the larger share of mental dis- 
ease, poverty, and crime is the direct heritage of alcohol ; that 
it also is the cause of a great share of our bodily diseases, and 
is a powerful element in shortening the average duration of 
life in certain localities or among certain classes." 



CHAPTER IV. 

History of the Means Employed in various Ages and Nations to 
remove Intemperance; viz.: Antidotes to Intoxication, In- 
fliction of Personal Penalties on Drunkards, Moderation 
Societies, Total Abstinence Societies, Coffee Houses, Ine- 
briate Asylums, Education, License of tbe Sale of Intoxi- 
cants, Prohibition, Local Option. 

THE manifest and acknowledged evils of intemperance 
have led, in all ages of the history of the vice, to ex- 
periments and efforts for avoiding those evils, and to many 
attempts to restrain or destroy their cause. The former 
have been characterized by no dislike of the intoxicants 
themselves, no purpose of diminishing their use, but rather 
have been incited by strenuous desire and effort to increase 
individual ability to consume the contents of the bowl w r ith 
impunity. The latter have aimed either at the restricted 
use of intoxicants, or at a total avoidance of them ; based 
in the one case on an acknowledgment of the necessity of 
refraining from over-indulgence, and in the other, on the 
folly and danger of any indulgence whatever. The pur- 
pose of this chapter is to simply narrate facts, not to deduce 
theories from them j to classify the efforts and outline their 
history, not to argue as to their worth or their folly. 

For convenience they will be considered in the following 
orders : Antidotes to Intoxication ) Infliction of Personal 
Penalties on Drunkards 5 Societies to Diminish the Use 
of Ardent Spirits 5 Total Abstinence Societies ,• Coffee 
Houses ; Inebriate Asylums 5 Education ; License of the 
sale of Intoxicants ; Prohibition; Local Option. 

(259) 



260 Alcohol in History. 

I. Axtidotes. — Attempts to neutralize the intoxicating 
power of alcoholic beverages, in order that thereby drinkers 
might sit longer at their cups, were not uncommon in an- 
cient times. " AthenaBus, arguing on the fondness of the 
Egyptians for wine, says : " This is a proof, that they are 
the only people amongst whom it is a custom at their feasts 
to eat boiled cabbages before all the rest of their food,, and 
even to this very time they do so. And many people add 
cabbage seed to potions which they prepare as preventives 
against drunkenness. And wherever a vineyard has cab- 
bages growing in it, there the wine is weaker." * 

And Eubulus says, somewhere or other : 

u Wife, quick! some cabbage boil, of virtuous healing, 
That I may rid me of this seedy feeling ! " 

And so Alexis says : 

"Last evening you were drinking deep, 
So now your head aches. Go to sleep : 
Take some boiled cabbage when you wake, 
And there's an end of your headache ! " f 

A like power is attributed by the same author, to bitter 
almonds : " Bitter almonds were considered a preserva- 
tive against intoxication, it being said of the physician of 
Tiberius, that he could carry away the contents of three 
bottles, if thus fortified, but speedily became drunk if 
deprived of his almonds." t 

Redding f attributes to Pliny the saying that " the drunk- 
ards of his day took pumicestone before they set to at a 
drinking bout in honor of Bacchus," in order that the intox- 
icating power of large quantities might be neutralized. 
The Greeks held that the amethyst was an antidote against 
intoxication; and the adorning of u Queen Elizabeth's 
Cup," profusely with amethysts, is supposed to have been 
suggested by this notion." § 

* Athenseus, Vol. I. p. 56. 

t Ibid, Book ii. 39. 

% History of Wines, p. 10. 

§ Biblical Temperance, by John Mair, M. D., p. 185. 



Personal Penalties for Drunkenness. 261 

Morewood gives the following examples : 

"The inhabitants of Jesso, an island of Japan, although 
great drinkers of a fiery compound, seldom become intoxicated 
on account of their free use of the oil of the todo-noevo, a species 
of seal, said by the Jesuit priests to be an infallible preventive 
of inebriety." "In the isle of Skie, the root Carmel or Knap- 
hard — Argatilis Sylvaticus, — was used to prevent drunkenness." * 

It is not known, to the writer, save as the above citations 
claim it, that any of these supposed antidotes in any way 
neutralized the power of the beverages that had been im- 
bibed. But as the chinking of large quantities was a feat in 
which many of the ancients were ambitious to excel, — as 
will be seen by referring back to the accounts of drinking 
customs, especially to those of the Greeks and Romans, — 
it is not unreasonable to believe that these and other sup- 
posed preventives were sought for and used quite as exten- 
sively as the above quotations claim, and more generally 
in ancient times than we have now any means of knowing. 

II. Personal Penalties for Deu^ke^^ess. — 
Among the measures adopted for the suppression of intem- 
perance, may be mentioned the infliction of personal pen- 
alties on the drinker. In some instances these penalties 
have aimed at the reformation of the drunkard ; in others, 
where resulting in death, they have been intended to 
serve as warnings and restraint to those who might wit- 
ness or otherwise know of their infliction. 

The earliest examples of measures of this kind, of which 
we have any record, are found in the laws and history of 
the Israelites, as preserved in the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures. In the law, it is written : 

"If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not 
obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, 
when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them : 

. . . . they shall say unto the elders of his city, this our 
son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice ; he is 

* History of Inebriating Liquors, pp. 248, 582. 



262 Alcohol in History. 

a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall 
stone him with stones, that he die : so shalt thou put away 
evil from among you; and all Israel shall fear." — Deuteronomy 
xxi. 18-21. 

So also in the regulations made for the guidance of the 
priesthood, in order that they might not repeat the folly 
of Nadab and Abilm (whose offence we have described in 
the previous chapter) : 

"The Lord spake unto Aaron, saying : Do not drink wine nor 
strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the 
tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. That ye may put 
difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and 
clean. And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the 
statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of 
Moses." — Leviticus x. 8-11. 

China. — In treating of intemperance in China in ancient 
times, allusion was made to the demoralization and ruin 
that had come to the land of Yin on account of the intem- 
perance of rulers and people. This led to the promulgation 
of an imperial edict about the year 1120 B. C, the full text 
of which is preserved in the " Shoo-King," or history. It 
is there called, " The Announcement about Drunkenness." 
In many parts it is vague and somewhat contradictory in 
its wording, but there is no ambiguity in its description of 
the evils of drunkenness, nor in its threatening the penalty 
of death on those who persist in the use of intoxicants. 
Some of the native commentators on the decree seek to 
soften dowm and explain away its more harsh features, but 
its positive declarations cannot be changed by criticisms 
which were written many centuries after the proclamation 
of the decree. Especially is this true of the mandate with 
which the u Announcement " closes : 

" If you are told that there are companies who drink together, 
do not fail to apprehend them all and send them to Chow, 
where I will put them to death. As to the ministers and offi- 
cers of Yin, who have been led to it and been addicted to drink, 
it is not necessary to put them to death ; let them be taught for 
a time. If they keep these lessons, I will gire them bright dis- 



Personal Penalties for Drunkenness. 263 

tinction. If you disregard my lessons, then I, the one man, 
will show you no pity. As you cannot cleanse your way, you 
shall be classed with those who are to be put to death. O 
Fung, give constant heed to my admonitions. If you do not 
manage right, your officers and the people will continue lost in 
drink." * 

At the present time intemperance among the Chinese, al- 
though quite extensively prevailing, is a solitary rather than 
a convivial or social vice, as to be seen in public in an intox- 
icated condition is sure to be followed by the infliction of 
severe penalties. According to the statement of an observ- 
ant traveller, ordinary offences are dealt with promptly but 
mildly, while it is one of the laws of the Empire that " A 
man, who, intoxicated with liquor, commits outrages against 
the laws, shall be exiled to a distant country, there to remain 
in a state of servitude." t 

India. — The debauchery in ancient India, sanctioned 
by the religions sacrifices which necessitated inordinate 
drunkenness on the part of those who participated in them, 
and especially on the part of the priests, became so alarming 
as to threaten the speedy destruction of the nation. Pro- 
videntially there was raised up at this time a new leader, who, 
being accepted as the religious and moral lawgiver of the 
people, placed before them the " Institutes or Hindoo Law," 
in which the severest penalties were pronounced on those 
who should tamper with intoxicants. The period in which 
Manu, or as he is sometimes called, Menu, flourished, was 
probably near the ninth century B. 0., although his trans- 
lators differ quite widely on this point. From Sir William 
Jones's translation of the " Ordinances of Manu," edition 
of 1825, the following extracts are made, to show how 
thoroughly and severely the great lawgiver dealt with the 
vendors and partakers of intoxicants: " Never let a priest 
eat part of a sacrifice performed by those who sell fermented 

* Legge's Chinese Classics, Vol. III. pt. 1. 
fDobell, Vol.11, p. 239. 



264 Alcohol in History. 

liquor/' chap. iv., v. 21G. In chap. vii. vs. 46, 47 : " Intoxi- 
cation w is named as one of the ten vices for which a King 
" may lose even Lis life. 7 ' " Money due for spirituous 
liquors, the son of the debtor shall not he obliged to pay." 
"A contract made by a person intoxicated, is utterly null." 
viii. 159, 163. 

Drinking spirituous liquor is one of the six faults which 
bring infamy on a married woman. A wife w r ho drinks any 
may at all times be superseded by another w r ife. A super- 
seded wife, who, having been forbidden, addicts herself to 
the use of intoxicating liquors even at jubilees, must be fined 
six racticas of gold. ix. 13, 80, 84. Sellers of spirituous 
liquors are classed with gamesters, revilers of Scripture, etc. 
They shall be instantly banished from the town. " Those 
wretches," it is said, " lurking like unseen thieves in the 
dominion of a prince, continually harass his good subjects 
with their vicious conduct." 

" A soldier or merchant drinking arak, or a priest drinking 
arak, mead, or rum, are all to be considered respectively as 
offenders in the highest degree, except those whose crimes are 
not lit to be named. For drinking spirits, let the mark of a vin- 
ter's flag be impressed on the forehead with a hot iron. With 
none to eat with them, with none to sacrifice with them, with 
none to read with them, with none to be allied by marriage 
with them, abject and excluded from all social duties, let them 
wander over this earth ; branded with indelible marks, they 
shall be deserted by their paternal and maternal relations, 
treated by none with affection, received by none with respect : 
Such is the ordinance of Manu." — ix. 235-239. 

Drinking forbidden liquor, is mentioned among the of- 
fences which wise legislators must declare to be crimes in 
the highest degree. Smelling of any spirituous liquor is 
considered as causing a loss of class. Eating what has 
been brought in the same basket with spirituous liquors is 
an offence which causes defilement, xi. 55, 68, 71. 

" Any twice-born man, who has intentionally drunk spirit of 
rice through perverse delusion of mind, may drink more spirit 
in flame, and atone for I:is offence by severely burning his body ; 



Personal Penalties for Drunkenness. 265 

or he may drink boiling hot, until he die, the urine of a cow,* 
or pure water, or milk, or clarified butter, or juice expressed 
from cow-dung: or, if he tasted it unknowingly, he may expiate 
the sin of drinking spirituous liquor, by eating only some bro- 
ken rice or grains of tila, from which oil has been extracted, 
once every night for a whole year, wrapped in coarse vesture 
of hairs from a cow's tail, or sitting unclothed in his house, 
wearing his locks and beard uncut, and putting out the flag 
of a tavern-keeper. Since the spirit of rice is distilled from the 
Mala, or filthy refuse of the grain, and since Mala is also a 
name for sin, let no Brahmin, Cshatriya, or Vaisya drink that 
spirit. 7 ' xi. 91-94. 

"When the divine spirit, or the light of holy knowledge, 
which has been infused into the body of a Brahmin, has once 
been sprinkled with any intoxicating liquor, even his priestly 
character leaves him, and he sinks to the low degree of Sudra." 
xi. 98. 

The souls of men who have given way to passions, pass 
at death into the bodies of those " addicted to gaming or 
drinking. 77 

"A priest who has drunk spirituous liquor, shall migrate in- 
to the form of a smaller or larger worm or insect, of a moth, 
of a fly feeding on ordure, or of some ravenous animal." xii. 
45, 56. 

In modern India, the East India Company, though largely 
encouraging distillation as a means of revenue, were forced 
by the prevalence of intemperance, to issue laws against 
drunkenness, by ordaining in 1754, for the first offence, 
admonition ; for the second a fine of five shillings 5 and per- 
sons of rank were to pay in proportion to their station, as it 
was expected they should be examples to others. 

Gbeece. — Athenseus, Book XIII. section 566, gives sev- 
eral instances of the determined manner in which the an- 
cient Greeks dealt with drunkenness, especially when it 
occurred in the higher classes in society. At Athens the 

* " Cow's urine was probably a metaphorical name for ' rain- 
water' originally — the clouds being cows metaphorically." 
Haug'8 Essays, p. 242. 



266 Alcohol in History. 

Arclions of the Court of Areopagus, were made inspectors 
of the public morals, and authorized to rigorously punish 
intemperance. To have even dined at a public house dis- 
qualified one for a seat in that renowned senate and court. 
For an Archon to be intoxicated was a capital offence, pun- 
ished with death. Isocrates is quoted as saying of this 
period in the history of Athens, that not even a servant in 
the city would be seen eating or drinking in a public house. 
The Spartans, according to Plutarch, made their servants 
drunk once a year, in order that their children might see 
how foolish and contemptible men looked in that state. 
Plato says that the vice of intemperance was effectually 
rooted out of the republic of Sparta ; and that if any man 
found another in a state of intoxication, he was, under the 
stern laws of Lycurgus, brought to punishment, and even 
though he might plead that the feast of Bacchus ought to 
excuse him, his defence availed him nothing. Zeleucus, 
the Locrian, enacted a law punishing with death any man 
who should drink wine, unless by a physician's prescription. 
The Massilians had a law that no woman should drink any- 
thing stronger than water.* Pittacus of Mitylene, made a 
law that he who, when drunk, committed any offence 
against the laws, should suffer a double punishment, one 
for the crime itself, and the other for the intoxication which 
prompted him to commit it ; t and the law was applauded 
by Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch, as the height of wisdom. 

Eome. — Pliny is authority for the statement that women 
in Pome were forbidden to drink wine in the year 650, 
B. C, | and that the penalty for disobedience was death, 
the same as the penalty for adultery ; — and the reason 
given was, that wine was a certain incitement to lewdness. 
An instance is cited by him of a wife killed by her husband 
for drinking wine, and that the husband was absolved from 

* A thenars II. Bk. X. c. 33. 

f Macnish, Anatomy of Drunkenness, Chapter XIII. 

t Natural History, Bk. XIV. chap. 13. 



Personal Penalties for Drunkenness. 267 

the murder by Romulus. Another case is cited by him, as 
having occurred four hundred years later, in which a certain 
Roman lady for having in her possession the keys of the 
wine cellar, was starved to death by her family. It was 
the usage, he says, for women to be compelled to salute all 
their male relatives with a kiss in order that it might be 
ascertained if they smelt of temetunij w r ine being called by 
that name. 

" Whence," Pliny says, "our word temulentia, meaning drunk- 
enness. Another case is cited by hira in which the judge Domi- 
tius, rendered the decision that a certain woman who claimed 
to have been allowed to take wine as a tonic or medicine, took 
more than was requisite for health, and must therefore be sen- 
tenced to lose her dowry. The Roman Censor, whose office 
corresponded in many respects to that of the Athenian Areopa- 
gite, had, like the latter, " a general supervision of the morals of 
the people — was empowered to punish, and did punish drunk- 
enness with excessive severity — was required to be himself, a 
man of rigidly abstemious habits, and was liable to expulsion 
from the order for a single violation of the laws relative to 
sobriety. These censors turned drunken members out of the 
senate without the least mercy, and branded them with perpet- 
ual infamy. They would allow them no place of honor or profit 
in the government." * 

Mahometans. — There is no doubt that the early fol- 
lowers of Mahomet interpreted the Koran as absolutely 
prohibiting the use of intoxicants. A few instances are 
here adduced to show how those in authority among them 
regarded the matter. The Caliph Omir, on learning from 
his general u that the Mussulmans had learned to drink wine 
during their invasion of Syria, ordered that whoever w r as 
guilty of this practice should have fourscore stripes upon the 
soles of his feet. The punishment was accordingly inflicted, 
and many were so infatuated, although they had no ac- 
cusers but their own conscience, as voluntarily to confess 
their crime, and undergo the same punishment." f 

* The War of Four Thousand Years, p. 123. 

f Ockely's History, quoted by Morewood, pp. 41, 42. 



268 Alcohol in History. 

The Sultan, Soliman the First, caused melted lead to be 
poured down the throats of those who disobeyed the precepts 
of the Koran against wine. In 1795, the Sultan Abdel- 
brahman published an ordinance against the use of Mcrissah, 
an intoxicating beverage, under penalty of death. 

Germany. — In the middle of the eighth century, the 
emperor Charlemagne, in giving a constitution to his nobles, 
which conferred on them many privileges of great value, 
charged them not to sully by intemperance, that which had 
been conceded to their valor, and the many services which 
they had rendered. To himself and to his heirs he reserved 
the right of punishing disobedience to this injunction, in 
the person of the grantee or his snccessor. His precautions 
in regard to drunkenness extended to all classes in society, 
and the sentence of excommunication was made the penalty 
of disobedience. The clergy were especially aimed at in 
many of the regulations, degradation from office and corpo- 
ral punishment, according to the rank of the offender, being 
prescribed as the penalty for the offence, even of going in- 
side a tavern. Tippling in any manner was prohibited by 
penal laws of great severity. The soldier found drunk in 
camp was restricted to water as a beverage until he ad- 
mitted the enormity of his offence and publicly sued for par- 
don. Judges were not allowed to hold courts unless per- 
fectly sober ,• witnesses and suitors could not appear in the 
halls of justice if intoxicated, and priests were not suffered 
to offer drink to penitents. 

About seven hundred years later, Frederick III. ordered 
" all electors, princes, prelates, counts, knights, and gentle- 
men to discountenance and severely punish drunkenness." 
Officials of lower rank also established societies and orders, 
through the regulations of which they sought the moral 
elevation of the people, and by means of which they im- 
posed fines and imprisonment on the intern per at e. # The 
church authorities also imposed heavy penalties on the in- 

. ■ * 1 , . 

* Authorities quoted by Samuelson, pp. 105, 106. 



Personal Penalties for Drunkenness. 2G9 

temperate among the different orders of the clergy ;— but 
of this further on. 

England. — Macnish states,* that by two acts passed in 
the reign of James I., drunkenness was punished with a 
fine, and, failing payment, with sitting publicly for six 
hours in the stocks, and that this law remained in operation 
till its repeal in 1828, previous to which time the ecclesias- 
tical courts could take cognizance of the offence, and pun- 
ish it accordingly.* 

Rev. William Reid says that, " In the time of Oliver Crom- 
well, the magistrates in the north of England punished drunkards 
by making them carry what was called 'The Drunkard's Cloak/ 
This was a large barrel, with one head out and a hole through 
the other, through which the offender was made to put his 
head, while his hands were drawn through two small holes, one 
on each side. With this he was compelled to march along the 
public streets." f 

In the present century, in the Naval Discipline, the fol- 
lowing rule was in force : 

" Separate for one month every man who was found drunk, 
from the rest of the crew : mark his clothes ' drunkard ; ' give 
him six-water grog, or, if beer, mixed one half water ; let them 
dine when the crew had finished ; enrploy them in every dirty 
and disgraceful work, etc. This," says Macnish, " had such a 
salutary effect, that in less than six months not a drunken man 
was to be found in the ship. The same system was introduced 
by the writer into every ship on board which he subsequently 
served. When first lieutenant of the Victory and Diornede, the 
beneficial consequences were acknowledged — the culprits were 
heard to say that they would rather receive six dozen lashes at 
the gangway, and be done with it, than to be put into the 
' drunken mess ? (for so it was named) for a month." \ 

Scotland. — By a law of Constantine II., king of Scot- 
land, passed at Scone, A. D. 861, " Young persons, of 
both sexes, were commanded to abstain from the use of in- 

* Anatomy of Drunkenness. Chap. xiii. 
t Temperance Cyclopaedia, p. 282. 
J Macnish, chap. XIV. 



270 Alcohol in History. 

toxicating liquors. Death was the punishment, on convic- 
tion of drunkenness." * Scottish laws against intemperance 
in the last century are said to have imposed the following 
penalties on drunkenness : 

i( Whosoever shall drink to excess, shall be liable, eaeh 
nobleman, in £20 Scots; each baron in 20 marks ; each gentleman, 
heritor, or burgess, in 10 marks ; each yeoman in 40 shillings 
Scots, toties quoties; each minister in the fifth part of his year's 
stipend : and that the offender, unable to pay the aforesaid 
penalties, be exemplarily punished in his body, according to the 
demerit of his fault." f 

Axciext Mexicans. — Prescott says of the Aztecs : 

" Intemperance, which was the burden, moreover, of their 
religious homilies, was visited with the severest penalties ; as 
if they had foreseen in it the consuming canker of their own, as 
well as of other Indian races in later times. It was punished in 
the young with death, and in older persons with loss of rank 
and confiscation of property." X 

Sweden. — Macnish quotes from " Schubert's Travels in 
Sweden," the following synopsis of the laws against in- 
temperance in force in Sweden during the first half of the 
present century : 

" Whoever is seen drunk, is fined for the first offence, three 
dollars, for the second, six, for the third and fourth, a still 
larger sum, and is also deprived of the right of voting at elections, 
and of being appointed a representative. He is, besides, pub- 
licly exposed in the parish church on the following Sunday. If 
he is found committing the offence a fifth time, he is shut up in 
a house of correction, and condemned to six months hard labor; 
and if he is again guilty, to a twelve months punishment of a 
similar description. If the offence has been committed in pub- 
lic, such as at a fair, an auction, etc., the fine is doubled ; and 
if the offender has made his appearance in a church, the punish- 
ment is still more severe. Whoever is convicted of having in- 
duced another to intoxicate himself, is fined three dollars, 
which sum is doubled if the person is a minor. An ecclesiastic 
who falls into this offence loses his benefice ; if it is a layman 

* War of Four Thousand Years, p. 165. 

f Reid's Cyclopaedia, p. 282. 

X Conquest of Mexico. Vol. I. p. 35. 



Personal Penalties for Drunkenness, 271 

who occupies any considerable post, his functions are suspend- 
ed, and perhaps he is dismissed. Drunkenness is never admit- 
ted as an excuse for any crime ; and whoever dies when drunk, 
is buried ignominiously, and deprived of the prayers of the 
church. It is forbidden to give, and more explicitly to sell, any 
spirituous liquors to students, workmen, servants, apprentices 
and private soldiers. Whoever is observed drunk in the 
streets, or making a noise in a tavern, is sure to be taken to 
prison and detained till sober ; without, however, being on that 
account exempted from the fines. If he is without money he is 
kept in prison till he works out his deliverance. Twice a year 
these ordinances are read aloud from the pulpit by the clergy ; 
and every tavern keeper is bound under the penalty of a heavy 
fine, to have a copy of them hung up in the principal rooms of 
his house." * 

Society Islands. — The law at Huahine is this : 

11 If a man drink spirits till he becomes intoxicated, (literally 
poisoned,) and is then troublesome or mischievous, the magis- 
trates shall cause him to be bound or confined ; and when the 
effects of the drink have subsided, shall admonish him not to 
offend again. But if he be obstinate in drinking spirits, and 
when intoxicated becomes mischievous, let him be brought be- 
fore the magistrate and sentenced to labor, such as road-mak- 
ing, five fathoms in length and two in breadth. If not punished 
by this, let him make a plantation fence, fifty fathoms long. 
If it be a woman that is guilty of the crime, she shall plait two 
large mats, one for the king, and the other for fche governor of 
the district, or make four hibiscus mats, two for the king and 
two for the governor, or forty fathoms of native cloth, twenty 
for the king and twenty for the governor. " t 

Birma^" Empire. — Alomphra, the founder of the Bir- 
man Empire, made intoxication punishable with death. J 

North America. — Both in the British Possessions, and 
in the several portions of the United States, intemperance 
which is manifest in rioting, in trespassing on the rights of 
others to the extent of interfering with Jieir business or 
destroying property, is, — as is probably true in all civilized 

*Macnish, note to chap. XIII. 

i Ellis' Polynesian Eesearches, Vol. II. p. 433. 

% Two Years in Ava, p. 307. 



272 Alcohol in History. 

countries, — treated as a misdemeanor. But some of the 
early laws of tlie new world treated drinking as an offence, 
and vigorously punished it, long before it had resulted in 
acts of violence to others. We give a few of the more 
curious, and now nearly forgotten examples. 

"Robert Coles, of Rockesbury" (Roxbury) "Massachusetts 
Bay Colony, seems to have severely taxed the ingenuity of the 
Court of Assistants, (answering in composition and functions to 
the present Governor and Council of Massachusetts, ) to tiud a 
variety of punishment for his determined drunkenness For 
his first offence he was brought into court, in 1631, and fined '5 
marks.' The next year his second offence was dealt with when 
he was fined ' xx shillings. ? In 1633 he was again before the 
court, when he was < fined x£, and enjoyned to stand with a 
white sheet of paper on his back, whereon a drunkard shall bo 
written in great letters, and to stand therewith so long as the 
court thinks meete for abusing himself shamefully with drink. ' 

"Again, March 4, 1633-4, he is brought before the court, 
where his case is thus disposed of: ^It is ordered that Robte 
Coles, for drunkenness by him committed at Rockesbury, shall 
be disfranchised, weare aboute his necke, and soe to hang upon 
his outward garm't, a D, made of redd cloath, and sett upon 
wdiite ; to contyuue this for a yeare, and not to leave it off att 
any tyme when hee comes amougst company, under the penalty 
of x.ls. for the first offence, and v£ the second, and after to be 
punished by the Court as they thinke meete ; also he is to wear 
the D outwards, and is enjoyned to appear att the nexte Gene- 
ral Court, and to contyuue there till the Court be ended." * 

Sept. 6, 1G36, at a Quarter Court, at Boston : " Peter 
Bussaker was censured for drunkenness to be whipped and 
to have twenty stripes sharply inflicted' 7 1 In Plymouth 
Colony, drunkards were sentenced to pay a fine, to sit in 
the stocks, to be whipped, and as the extreme penalty, to 
"be disfranchised.! 

One of the earliest laws of Pennsylvania, that adopted at 
Upland, Dec. 1682, provided that, " Drunkenness, encour- 

* Records of the Governor and Conrpany of Massachusetts 
Bay, Vol. I. pp. 90, 93, 107, 112. 
tlbid, p. 177. 
t Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. I. pp. 12, 36, 100, 132. 



Ecclesiastical Penalties. 273 

agement of drunkenness, drinking or pledging of healths, 
should be punished by fioe and imprisonment/'* 

Recently, Dr. H. A. Hartt, in a paper read before the 
Episcopal Church Congress in Boston, and by subsequent 
agitation and discussion in the columns of the secular press, 
has sought the cooperation of various classes in communi- 
ty, — the drinkers and the abstinent, the so-called moderates 
and even the liquor sellers, in a revival of the old 
methods, — in spirit, if not in detail, — to make all drunk- 
enness an offence against the law, to be punished by im- 
prisonment and other penalties. So far it has no substan- 
tial encouragement. 

Ecclesiastical Penalties. — The Epistles of the 
New Testament verify the evidence collected from other 
sources, that intemperance prevailed to an alarming extent 
in the Gentile world, especially in the cities of Greece and 
Home, where the first efforts were made to establish the 
Christian Religion. They show that the drinking habits 
of the people greatly hindered the progress of the Gospel, 
and that exhortation and rebuke were frequently given to 
the early converts on account of the tendency of their former 
habits, and the influence of the constant examples before 
them of indulgence in the use of wine. Hence they were 
warned to avoid drunkenness, not to keep company with 
drunkards, and to remember that no drunkards can inherit 
the Kingdom of God. Rom. xiii. 12. ICor. v. 11 5 vi. 10. 
Hence the injunction that a bishop " must not be given to 
wine," literally " must not sit down at wine," li must not be 
in company with wine," a must wholly avoid it." 1 Tim. 
iii. 2 5 Titus i. 7. The Fathers both of the Western and 
Eastern Churches tell sad tales of its influence in tempting 
and overcoming both clergy and laity. Taverns, — the keep- 
ers of which were, on account of their vile traffic, esteemed 
more lightly than men who followed any other occupation \ — ■ 

*Proud's History of Pennsylvania, p. 71. 
t Neander, Memorials, p. 100. 
18 



274 Alcohol in History. 

became the resorts of the clergy to such an extent as to call 
for the passage of the following law, in the fourth century : 

"If any one of the clergy be taken eating in a tavern, let him 
be suspended, except when he is forced to bait at an inn upon 
the road." * 

In the seventh century intemperance was so prevalent, 
and the disposition to indulge in it on all occasions was so 
general, that at the Synod of Trullus, " the clergy and laity 
w r ere commanded not to partake of the feasts of the Bac- 
chanalia ; on pain, the former, of deposition, the latter of 
excommunication." At about the same period, the emperor 
Justinian found it necessary to "forbid monks to enter 
places where liquor was sold, under pain of chastisement 
upon conviction before a magistrate, and of expulsion from 
their monasteries." t 

Bridgett quotes from a letter written in the eighth century 
by St. Boniface to the Abp. of Canterbury : (as see the sec- 
tion on " Intemperance in England.") u It is reported that 
in your dioceses the vice of drunkenness is too frequent," etc., 
closing with reference to the ancient decrees that " a bishop 
or a priest given to drink should either resign or be de- 
posed." One of these decrees, that of A. D. 569, referring 
to the priests, reveals the fact that malice as w T ell as hospi- 
tality, sometimes led the unfaithful clergy to tempt and 
even to force others to become intoxicated : " He that forces 
another to get drunk out of hospitality must do penance as 
if lie had got drunk himself. But he who out of hatred or 
wickedness, in order to disgrace or mock at others, forces 
them to get drunk, if he has not already sufficiently done 
penance, must do penance as a murderer of souls." Other 
penalties are thus set forth: 

" If a bishop or any one ordained has a habit of drunkenness, 

*Law Book of the Ante-Nicene Church, quoted by Ritchie in 
his SaHpture Testimony against Wine. p. 150. 

f War of Four Thousand Years, pp. 154, 155. See also various 
chapters in Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, and in Neander's 
History of the Christian Church. 



Ecclesiastical Penalties, 27 '5 

he must either resign or he deposed. If a monk drinks till ho 
vomits, he must do thirty days' penance; if a priest or deacon, 
forty days. If a priest gets drunk through inadvertence, he 
must do penance seven days ; if through carelessness, fifteen 
days; if through contempt, forty days; a deacon or monk, four 
weeks ; a sub-deacon, three ; a layman, one week." 

In 1255, Walter, Bishop of Durham, forbids " those in 
holy orders that they be not drunkards, nor keep taverns, 
lest they die an eternal death." 

In 1536, Henry VIII. as " Defender of the Faith," 
issued this injunction : 

" The said dean, parsons, vicars, curates, and other priests 
shall in no vise, at any unlawful time, nor for any other cause 
than for their honest necessity, haunt or resort to any taverns 
or ale-houses ; and after their dinner and supper they shall not 
give themselves to drinking and riot." * 

Abp. Plunkett, speaking of the Irish clergy in the latter 
part of the 17th century, says : 

" While visiting six dioceses of this province, I applied my- 
self especially to root out the cursed vice of drunkenness, 
which is the parent and nurse of all scandals and contentions. 
I commanded also, under penalty of privation of henefite, that 
no priest should frequent public houses or drink whiskey." t 

A Scotch Presbytery, in 1637, sentenced a drunkard "to 
stand in sackcloth two Sabbaths ; and to pave four markes 
penalty e." { 

As we have seen in a former chapter : (the citation from 
Barbour's Statistics,) that full fifty per cent, of all the cases 
of Church discipline, are occasioned by intemperance, so 
we may refer to the history of all Christian sects for legis- 
lation on this subject, for various devices of penalties, even 
where, as in the case of Protestant sects, generally, the with- 
drawal of fellowship and watch care is the extreme punish- 
ment that can be inflicted. As no evil has been a greater 



* JeafTreson's Book about the Clergy, I. p. 90. 
t Discipline of Drink, pp. 77, 114, 135, 140, 166. 
t Reid's Cyclopaedia, p. 281. 



276 Alcohol in History. 

foe to the existence and prosperity of churches, so none has 
suggested the necessity for a greater number of expedients 
for making church members feel the shame and disgrace 
of drunkenness. 



III. Moderation Societies. — The organized efforts 
to diminish drunkenness were at first characterized by al- 
lowing- the use of all known intoxicants, in moderation 5 
and afterwards, by the exclusion of the use of distilled 
liquors, and the permission of moderate indulgence in fer- 
mented drinks. So far as we have been able to ascertain, — 
although personal efforts for, and commendations of mode- 
rate drinking, are noticeable in the history of most remote 
times, — the organization of societies for this purpose, is 
comparatively modern. 

In 1517 the first society of this kind, so far as the writer 
knows, was established in Germany. It was called the 
" Order of Temperance," and was well supported by the 
nobility, clergy and gentry. Its founder, Sigismond de 
Dietrichstein, had especially in view, the cultivation of 
temperate habits among the highest classes, who were fast 
becoming dissolute by the exactions of the habit of social 
drinking 5 and it w^as the chief aim of this society to put 
an end to the custom of pledging of healths, a practice 
then carried to such an extreme that intoxication was sure 
to be an accompaniment of the most casual meeting of 
friends. 

In 1G00, Maurice, the Landgrave of Hesse, established 
another society, the fundamental rule of which was, " That 
every member of the society pledges himself never to become 
intoxicated." To guard against the violation of this pledge, 
it was ordered by the society that no member " should be 
allowed more than seven goblets of wine at a meal, and 
that not more than twice a day ! " A third society, of a 
similar character, was called the " Ring of Gold/' and 
was established by the Count Palatine, Frederick V. 



Moderation Societies. 277 

The members of these societies pledged themselves to ob- 
serve the rules for two years.* 

We find no further trace of Temperance Societies of any 
kind, for nearly two hundred years 5 for the next mention 
is of an organization of farmers, in the New World. The 
Lansingburg, N. Y. ? Federal Herald, of July 13, 1789, 
contains this item : 

" Upwards of two hundred of the most respectable farmers 
of the County of Litchfield, Connecticut, have formed an 
association to discourage the use of spirituous liquors, and have 
determined not to use any kind of distilled liquors during their 
farming work the ensuing season." t 

Drinking habits, as we have already seen, were at that 
time prevailing to an alarming extent among the people of 
the United States. The French War had done much to 
demoralize the people, and the War for Independence had 
increased the tendency to intemperance. Patriots and phi- 
lanthropists were sounding the alarm and putting in motion 
the arguments and moral influences which were to make 
America the birth-nlace of all subsequent organized work 
against this great evil. 

As early as 1737, Benjamin Lay, an illiterate sailor, but 
a true lover of his kind, put forth a little work in which he 
sought to awaken the disgust of his countrymen against the 
use of rum, by detailing the filthy manner of its manufac- 
ture, as he had observed it during his voyages to Barba- 
does. He made bitter complaint that u we send away our 
excellent provisions and other good things, to purchase such 
filthy stuff, which tends to the corruption of mankind 5 
and they send among us some of the worst slaves w T hen 
they cannot rule them themselves, along with their ram, to 

* The Teetotaller's Companion, by Peter Burne, p. 314. His- 
tory of the Temperance Movement, by Samuel Couling, p. 24. 
War of Four Thousand Years, p. 168. 

t Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 423, 



278 Alcohol in History. 

complete the tragedy, L e. y to slay, to destroy the people 
of Pennsylvania, and to ruin the country. 77 # 

On the eve of the Revolution, viz., in 1774, a pamphlet 
with the following title was published in Philadelphia: 
11 The Mighty Destroyer Displayed, in some Accounts of 
the Dreadful Havock made by the mistaken Use as well 
as Abuse of Distilled Spirituous Liquors. By a Lover of 
Mankind . 77 f It was no doubt from the pen of the eminent 
American philanthropist, Anthony Benezet j and is a won- 
derful production for the thoroughness of its presentation 
of the subject. It is largely made up of extracts from the 
writings of Drs. Hales, Hoffman, Gheyne, Short, Lind, and 
Buchan, on the physiological evils of the use of distilled 
spirits; combats the notion that they are needed in extreme 
hot or cold countries ; enforces the moral argument as set 
forth in 1 Cor. viii. 13 ; and pleads for Total Abstinence, 
against the mistaken notion that some use of intoxicants is 
necessary. And further, it attacks the use of fermented 
drinks, quoting from Dr. Buchan : " There are few groat 
ale drinkers who are not phthisical, nor is that to be won- 
dered at, considering the glutinous and almost indigestible 
nature of strong ale. 77 

In 1777, Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia., at that 
time " Surgeon-General of the Army for the Middle De- 
partment, 77 wrote and published, by request of the u Board 
of War of the American Army, 77 a pamphlet entitled, 
u Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers, 77 in 
which he took strong ground against the use of Alcoholic 
Liquors. 

In 1778, Benezet issued another pamphlet, to which he 
appended his name, entitled : " Remarks on the Nature and 
Bad Effects of Spirituous Liquors, collected by Anthony 



* Samson Shorn, and his Locks Renewed : or the History of 
Spirituous Liquors in Pennsylvania. By Rev. George Duffield, 
Jr. Pp. 17, 18. 

f A copy may be found in the Library of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, bearing the autograph of its supposed author. 



Moderation Societies. 270 

Benezet." * In this pamphlet, he adopts the opinion of Dr. 
Cheyne : " Water alone is sufficient and effectual for all 
the purposes of human want in drink ; strong liquors were 
never designed for common use." 

In 1785 Dr. Rush published an " Enquiry into the Effects 
of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind." " By 
spirits/ 7 he said, u I mean all those liquors which are ob- 
tained by distillation from the fermented juices of substances 
of any kind." To this little book, which was republished 
in large editions, as early as 1794, 1804, and 1811, — and 
which is still a standard authority on the subject, — and to 
the personal efforts of its author, we are largely indebted 
for general enlightenment on the evils of intemperance, and 
for the early organizations for its suppression. 

In 1788 he appeared before the " Philadelphia Annual 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church," then in 
session in the city of Philadelphia, and "made an earnest 
and animated address on the use of ardent spirits, taking 
the broad ground then so strongly occupied by the Con- 
ference, and since so signally taken and maintained by the 
Temperance Reformation : l that total abstinence is no less 
the demand of our nature than it is the ride of our safety, 
and he besought the Conference to stop the use as well as 
the abuse of spirit drinking." f 

Two years later (1790), a volume of Sermons on Intem- 
perance was anonymously published in Philadelphia. 
They were evidently the production of a physician, and 
have generally been attributed to Dr. Rush. 

The session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church, at Philadelphia, in 1811, was visited by Dr. Rush, 
its ministers and elders were presented by him with 1000 
copies of his treatise, and personally urged to take some 
steps that would show their desire to put a stop to drunk- 
enness. The necessary limits in which the history of the 



* There is a copy in the Friends' Library, Philadelphia, 
f Eeport of the Pennsylvania State Temperance Union, 1871, 
p, 393. 



280 Alcohol in History. 

movement must be kept in these pages, forbids extended 
extracts from this " Enquiry," but justice seems to demand 
that at least this much should be quoted, to set forth its 
scope, and the forcible manner in which the subject was 
treated : 

" The effects of ardent spirits on the l)0(ly are — 1. A decay of 
appetite. 2. A consuming of the liver of the drunkard, like the 
vulture preying on that of Prometheus. 3. Jaundice and 
drospy. 4. Hoarseness and consumption. 5. Diabetes. 6. 
1 Burn-buds' in the face, descending to the limbs in the form of 
leprosy. 7. A foetid breath. 8. Spontaneous combustion. 
9. Epilepsy. 10. Gout in all its various forms of swelled 
limbs, colic, palsy, apoplexy. 11. Madness. Its effects on 
the mind are— 1. To impair the memory. 2. To debilitate the 
understanding. 3. To pervert the moral faculties. 4. To 
produce falsehood, fraud, uncleanness and murder. In folly, 
it causes a man to resemble a calf in stupidity ; an ass in roar- 
ing ; a mad bull in quarrelling ; a dog in fighting ; a tiger in 
cruelty : a skunk in fetor ; a hog in filthiness, and a he-goat in 
obscenity." 

In 1805, the Paper Makers of Philadelphia, " associated 
themselves together for the purpose of improving their art, 
and ameliorating the condition of worthy unfortunate 
journeymen and their families. "They soon found that 
the excessive use of strong drink w T as almost the only 
cause of the misery and poverty which they had oc- 
casion to relieve, and they at once sought to restrict this 
evil. " The conclusion at which they arrived was, "to use 
every possible endeavor to restrain and prohibit the use 
of ardent spirits in their respective mills." * 

In 1806, Dr. Rush found an ardent and efficient co- 
worker, in Rev. Ebenezer Porter, of Washington, Con- 
necticut, who preached and published a sermon on " The 
Fatal Effects of Ardent Spirits." In this Sermon w T e have 
probably the first attempt to set forth the statistics of the 
consumption of ardent spirits in the United States. 

In March, 1808, Dr. B. J. Clark, a physician in Moreau, 

* Duffield, p. 25. 



Moderation Societies. 281 

Saratoga county, N. Y., alarmed at the increase of intem- 
perance in the place of his residence, sought the advice of 
his pastor, Rev. Lebbeus Armstrong, of the Congregational 
Church, to whom he, communicated his conviction : u We 
shall all become a community of drunkards in this town, 
unless something is done to arrest the progress of intem- 
perance." Developing his plan of a Temperance Organ- 
ization, his efforts was seconded^ by his pastor and others, 
and resulted in the organization on the 30th day of April, 
in the same year, of u The Temperate Society of Moreau 
and Northumberland." A Constitution was adopted and 
received the signatures of forty-three members. It provided 
for four meetings during the year, and defined its purpose 
and the means of effecting it, in the following provisions : 

"Article IV. No member shall drink rum, gin, whiskey, wine, 
or any distilled spirits, or composition of the same, or any of 
them, except by advice of a physician, or in case of actual dis- 
ease ; also, excepting wine at public dinners, under penalty of 
twenty-five cents ; provided that this article shall not infringe 
on any religious ordinance. 

" Sec. 2. No member shall be intoxicated, under penalty of 
fifty cents. 

" Sec. 3. No member shall offer any of said liquors to any other 
member, or urge any other person to drink thereof, under pen- 
alty of twenty-five cents for each offence." 

" Art. XI. It shall be the duty of each member to accuse any 
other member of a breach of any regulation contained in Article 
IV., and the mode of accusative process and trial shall be 
regulated by a by-law." 

" This little feeble band of temperance brethren, held their 
quarterly and annual meetings in a country district school- 
house from April, 1808, onward for several years, without the 
presence of a single female at their temperance meetings." * 

Another society was organized in April, 1809, at Green- 
field, in the same county, on a similar basis.t 

* History of the Temperance Reformation, by Rev. Lebbeus 
Armstrong, pp. 1S-28. 

t Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 27. 



282 Alcohol in HistoVij. 

In the u National Temperance Advocate/' for January, 
1881 , it is stated that at a recent Temperance meeting in 
the city of New York, Rev. Dr. S. Irenaeus Prime, of the 
" New York Observer/' said : 

"I hold in my hand a printed sermon on intemperance, 
preached by my father, Nathaniel S. Prime, Nov. 5, 1811, from 
the words , ' Who hath woe V etc. ; ' they that tarry long at the 
wine.' That was before I was born. It was preached before 
the Presbytery of Long Island, and it appeals to ministers and 
all others to discourage the use of intoxicating drinks. All the 
arguments now in use are employed in this sermon, the same 
objections answered, and the same appeals are made. This was 
fourteen years before Dr. Beecher's famous sermons were 
preached. The Presbytery that listened to Mr. Prime's sermon 
requested its publication; it adopted a resolution recommend- 
ing their people to refrain from offering ardent spirits or wino 
as an act of hospitality. The session of the church, and then 
the church of which Mr. Prime was pastor, Freshponds, adopted 
a similar resolution, and a total revolution in the habits of the 
community was the result." 

The Advocate adds: "In 1812 Mr. Prime removed from Long 
Island, and, after preaching in Saratoga County, was settled, 
in 1813, in Cambridge, Washington Co., New York, where he 
at once organized the farmers of his congregation into a tem- 
perance society." 

Perhaps the most important of the early organizations, 
certainly the most influential as an example for other 
localities, was the one organized in Boston, Mass., in 1813. 
The causes which led to this new society may be traced to 
Dr. Rush's visit to the session of the Presbyterian General 
Assembly, in 1811. At that session committees were ap- 
pointed to consider the evil and its remedy. The same 
year the Associated Churches of Connecticut and Massa- 
chusetts took up the subject, and appointed committees to 
u cooperate with those of the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church." The immediate result was that it 
wns resolved to discountenance the use of ardent spirits at 
the public meetings of these bodies ; and a more extended 
result was the effect produced on subordinate bodies, and 
the creation of a strong public opinion on the necessity of 



Moderation Societies. 283 

organised work by means of secular societies, for the arrest 
of the great evil. 

"The Consociation of the Western District of Fairfield 
County," Connecticut, at a meeting in Oct., 1812 — 

u Voted — That we cordially approve of the doings of the Gen- 
eral Association of Connecticut, on this subject, at their session 
in June last, and will, as far as practicable, comply with their 
recommendations; Particularly, "1. That the customary use 
of ardent spirits shall be wholly discontinued, at all future 
meetings of this body." " 4. That we will endeavor to influence 
the members of our respective churches, and other well-disposed 
persons in our congregations, to contribute for the purchase and 
gratuitous distribution of well-written tracts on the subject ; 
particularly one by Dr. Eush of Philadelphia, and report our 
progress in this undertaking, to the next annual meeting of this 
body." It was also voted — "That Mr. Swan, Mr. Humphrey and 
Mr. Bonney, be a committee, to draft and print an Address, re- 
specting the intemperate use of Ardent Spirits." 

This address, which bears the imprint, " New Haven, 
1813," makes mention of the fact that, " The late formation 
of a general society in this State, for the promotion of good 
morals, promises to be a powerful engine to put down dram- 
shops and arrest the progress of intemperance ; n and re- 
commends the citizens to become " members of this society, 
and to establish branch societies in their respective par- 
ishes." * What special service was rendered to the Tem- 
perance cause of this Connecticut State Society, and to what 
extent, if at all, branches of it were planted in various parts 
of the State, the writer is not informed. 

Through the mutual influence of a Congregational and 
Presbyterian Alliance, and under the counsels of the Hon. 
Samuel Dexter, a distinguished lawyer, who said that he 
would pay all the taxes of Boston and of the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, if he might have the profit on the traffic in 
spirituous liquors, f " The Massachusetts Society for the 

* "An Address to the Churches and Congregations of the West- 
ern District of Fairfield County," pp. 3, 27. 
t Autobiography of John Marsh, D.D., p. 12. 



284 Alcohol in History. 

Suppression of Intemperance/ 7 was formed, Feb. 5, 1813. 
Its object was, " to discountenance and suppress the too 
free use of ardent spirits, and its kindred vices, profaneness 
and gaming ; and to encourage and promote temperance and 
general morality." This society held special meetings as 
occasion might require, and an annual meeting at which a 
sermon or address was delivered before the Society, by 
some person elected for the purpose. According to Dr. 
Marsh : " The Society did little but observe an anniver- 
sary and have a sermon preached, after which preacher and 
hearers wonld repair to tables richly laden with wine ; and 
was therefore without efficacy in rooting out the evil." * 
And Dr. A. P. Peabody, in a recent article in the a Cam- 
bridge Tribune/ 7 thus speaks of it : 

" It had among its members the foremost men in Church and 
State, including the chief-justice of the Commonwealth, the 
president of Harvard College, Hon. Nathan Dane, and other 
persons of like standing and character. The members of this 
society were probably, without exception, perfectly temperate 
men, most of them opposed to the use of distilled spirits, but, 
perhaps, none of them scrupulous as to the moderate use of 
wiue They soon experienced tbe truth of the adage, ' Do that 
you may know.' One of the original members told the writer 
of this article that at the earlier meetings, held at private 
houses, the then usual display of decanters appeared on the 
sideboard, and was not suffered to remain a mere show : that, 
when a meeting was to take place at his house, he took care to 
have his sideboard generously replenished ; that the incongru- 
ity of such indulgence with the work in hand struck him at 
the last moment, and induced him to lock up the decanters ; 
and that the members, taking kind and grateful notice of his 
procedure, resolved informally, but unanimously, to drink no 
more at their meetings. This society, while it held the fore- 
ground, directed its efforts mainly against the use of distilled 
spirits, and, it must be admitted, in favor of light wines and 
home-made fermented liquors. We well remember a receipt 
for making currant wine printed on the last leaf of one of their 
widely-circulated annual addresses." 

The Annual Reports of the Society show, however, that 
* Ibid, p. 12. 



Moderation Societies. 285 

it was not without influence in encouraging the organization 
of other State, County and Town Societies, and that these 
in time led to a successful effort for a National organization. 
In 1833 it changed its form of organization, and became 
"The Massachusetts Temperance Society/' the members 
" pledging themselves that they will not use distilled spirit 
as drink, nor provide it as an article of refreshment for their 
friends, nor for persons in their employment. 77 The or- 
ganization is still in existence, but does little more than to 
hold an annual meeting for the purpose of legally holding 
and managing its funds. 

In 1818 a Society " to check and discourage the use of 
ardent spirits/ 7 was organized in Darby, Delaware County, 
X. Y. 

In 1826, a national organization, called the "American 
Temperance Society/ 7 — ten years later merged into the 
" American Temperance Union/ 7 — organized in Boston, 
under a pledge of " Total Abstinence from Ardent Spirits. 7 ' 
Rev. J. L. Hanaford states that a by-law of this society at 
the time of its original organization, read thus : 

" Any member of this Association who shall be convicted of 
intoxication, shall he fined two shillings, unless such act of in- 
toxication shall take place on the 4th of July, or on any regu- 
larly appointed military muster." * 

And Dr. Marsh says : " In the early stage of the temperance 
reform, some friends of the cause in Boston thought best to es- 
tablish a brewery to furnish men who would abstain from 
ardent spirits with beer. They did so, and soon failed, sinking 
some $20,000 in the business. How happened it ? Why, they 
were honest men, and made honest ale ; whereas other brewers, 
using drugs and poisons, were able to undersell them, and 
compelled them to sell at such a price that they. could not sus- 
tain the business." t 

Rev. Edwin Thompson, for many years, and at present one 

* Address delivered at Lynn, Mass., April 24, 1864, p. 6. 

f Frauds in Intoxicating Liquors. The Sin of Drunkard Mak- 
ing. New York 1856, n. p. See also " Letter to the Friends of 
Temperance in Massachusetts, by Justin Edwards." Boston, 
1836. pp. 11, 12. 



286 Alcohol in History. 

of the most active and efficient advocates of the Temperance 
cause in Massachusetts, informs the writer that he was per- 
sonally acquainted with one of the parties in this enter- 
prise, and that the brewery was erected at Roxbury? in 
1828 or 1829. In the broad light now pouring upon us, 
these rules and measures seem impolitic and absurd, but 
they w T ere the honest attempts of earnest men, struggling 
in efforts to suppress intemperance. And not wholly in 
vain, for in the first annual report of the National Society, 
it was shown that State organizations had been established 
in New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois and Indiana ) and of 
local auxiliary societies, u thirteen in Maine, twenty-three 
in New Hampshire, seven in Vermont, thirty-nine in Mas- 
sachusetts, two in Rhode Island, thirty-three in Connecticut ? 
seventy-eight in New York, six in New Jersey, seven in 
Pennsylvania, one in Delaware, one in Maryland, five in 
Virginia, two in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, 
one in Kentucky, one in Ohio, and two in Indiana ; making 
a total of two hundred and twenty-two in the Union/ 7 * 

And in 1833, there were not less than 5,000 societies in 
the United States warring against the use of ardent spirits, 
having a membership of 1,500,000, of whom 10,000 had 
been drunkards ; 4,000 distilleries had been stopped ; 6,000 
merchants had given up the sale of distilled liquors, while 
on over 1,000 vessels their use had been abandoned, f 

In 1833 a large number of Senators and Representatives 
in the United States 7 Congress, organized a Temperance 
Society, on the basis of Total Abstinence from the use of 
Ardent Spirits. 

In 1828, Moderation Societies begun to exist in Canada, 
the first being established in Montreal. Until 1835 kin- 
dred societies multiplied rapidly throughout the Dominion. 

Turning again to the old world, we find that in 1760, 
the inhabitants of the town of Leadhills, Scotland, alarm- 
ed at the prospect of the re-opening of the malt distilleries, 

* War of Four Thousand Years, p 199. 
t Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 446. 



Moderation Societies. 287 

resolved, in view of the evil effects of the use of distilled 
liquors on health and morals, and regarding the use of 
grains in the distilleries as a " principal cause " of a recent 
" famine/* " to discourage to the utmost of our power, by 
all public methods, that pernicious practice, being deter- 
mined to drink no spirits so distilled ; neither frequent, nor 
drink any liquor in any tavern or ale-house that we know 
sells or retails the same." * 

How long this resolution was in force, and what influ- 
ence it exerted, is unknown. Sixty-eight years later, Mr. 
John Dunlop, who had been engaged for some years in the 
religious education of the young, and in Bible and mission- 
ary societies, in the west of Scotland, paid a visit to France, 
where he was sadly affected by the fact that the latter country 
was far in advance of Scotland in general morality. 
Knowing that his country made great boast of its sound- 
ness in religious faith, and of its zeal for the exclusion of 
heresies, he was led to inquire into the cause of such a 
strange anomaly, and was forced to the conclusion that the 
love of the Scotch for whiskey and other distilled drinks, 
accounted for it. He at once made himself familiar with 
the laws and methods of the American Temperance Socie- 
ties, and at a religious meeting in Glasgow, urged the ne- 
cessity of steps being taken in Great Britain for the sup- 
pression of national intemperance. He had little difficulty 
in demonstrating that intemperance was a growing evil in 
Scotland, but the differences as to the respective modes of 
life of the British and Americans seemed so great to his 
audience that they were quite unanimous in their opinion that 
what had wrought a good work here, could not possibly accom- 
plish anything there. A year later, he again visited Glas- 
gow, and after spending two days in personal interviews 
with many clergymen and others, held a conference with 
about twenty influential gentlemen, before whom he laid 
such facts as he had been able to collect with regard to the 

* Edinburgh Magazine, April, 1760. Quoted on p. 347 of Reid's 
Temperance Cyclopaedia. 



-288 Alcohol in History. 

extent of intemperance in their country, a detailed account 
of the American Temperance Societies, and a proposal for 
a system of similar associations and pledges for Scotland. 
A long discussion followed, and much interest was mani- 
fest, but no one committed himself to a desire or willingness 
to try the experiment of organized effort, until a clergyman, 
— the only one present, — who had taken the precaution, 
before leaving his home, to prejudge the case by preparing 
a resolution, rose, and in a solemn manner offered the fol- 
lowing : 

" Resolved, That this meeting tenders its best thanks to Mr. 
Dimlop for his address with reference to the sin of drunkenness, 
but it is the opinion of the meeting that no Temperance Associa- 
tion will ever ivorTc in Scotland." 

No one seconded it ; on the contrary, several strongly 
condemned it, and Mr. Dunlop was requested to continue his 
investigations, and report at a subsequent meeting. A 
month later, having carefully fortified himself with facts 
and arguments, he again visited Glasgow, to give a public 
lecture on " The Extent and Remedy of National Intem- 
perance." But no religious society w T as willing to allow 
him the use of either church or chapel for such a purpose. 
At last, securing a suitable place, he sent courteous notices 
to the clergy, requesting them to announce his meeting and 
its purpose. Nearly all of the ministers threw the notices 
aside, thinking that the project was vain and foolish. And 
of the few who complied with his request, one afterwards 
acknowledged that during the reading of the announcement, 
he kept his eyes doggedly fixed on the paper, not daring 
to look either to the right or to the left, lest he might be 
drawn to laugh outright, in case any of his audience 
should show symptoms of risibility ! 

The lecture, however, was a success, both in the num- 
bers who heard it, and in the effect produced. Quite a 
number of Divinity students who were in attendance, were 
disposed, as were many others in the audience, to receive the 
discourse with levity ; but soon, as facts which they could 



Moderation Societies. 289 

not gainsay, began to be marshalled before them, they 
were awed into quiet, and then to earnest attention. But 
even then, the dislike of innovations, possibly the special 
aversion to being taught by America, and the fear of failure, 
caused even the most interested to refuse to start an organ- 
ization in Glasgow. " Let the experiment be first tried 
elsewhere," they said, " and if it shall succeed there, we will 
venture on a trial here." The Divinity students before re- 
ferred to, came forward and offered to become members 
whenever it should be deemed best to organize in that city. 
Mr. Duiilop therefore retired to his home in Greenock, and 
started a society there. Meanwhile Miss Graham and Miss 
Allan, his personal friends, succeeded in organizing a 
Female Temperance Society at Maryhill, a small village, 
near Glasgow. Their organization was created October 
1st, 1829, four days earlier than the one at Greenock. 
" And the two societies," says Mr. Dunlop, u beginning 
immediately to flourish and do extraordinary good, proved 
the means, under Providence, of showing to the gentlemen 
now interested, in Glasgow and elsewhere, that there was a 
possibility of the plan succeeding if persevered in.*' * 

On the 12th of November, 1829, the " Glasgow and 
West of Scotland Temperance Society," was formed. Its 
platform was thus expressed in Article II. of its Constitu- 
tion. 

" That the society shall consist of all who, under the convic- 
tion that intemperance and its attendant evils are promoted by- 
existing habits and opinions in regard to the use of intoxicating 
liquors, and that decisive measures for effecting a reformation 
are indispensable — do voluntarily agree to relinquish entirely 
the use of ardent spirits, except for medicinal purposes ; and 
although the moderate use of other liquors is not excluded, yet 
as the promotion of temperance in every form is the specific 
design of the society, it is understood that excess in these neces- 
sarily excludes from membership."! 

-The Early Heroes of the Temperance Reformation. By 
William Logan, pp. 26-40. 
t Couling, pp. 36, 37. 
19 



290 Alcohol in History. 

At the first annual meeting, the society — 

" Reported that during the year they had circulated 425,300 
tracts, in addition to 20,200 temperance pamphlets, which had 
been printed at the Glasgow press. The society in Edinburgh 
had also circulated 40,000 tracts, the society in Greenock, 9,000, 
Dundee, 4,000, Perth, 4,000; and it was estimated that the total 
number of temperance tracts, and larger publications, issued in 
Scotland, during the year, was considerably more than half a 
million. The number of members in Glasgow, was reported to 
be 5,072, while in all Scotland it was stated that there were not 
fewer than 130 societies, and 25,478 members. The balance sheet 
showed an income of £347. lis. 2|d., and an expenditure of 
£575. 18s. 7£d., leaving a balance due to the treasurer of £168 
7s. 5d." * 

In 1829, a combination of circnm stances, notable among 
which was the recent reduction of the duty on spirits, so 
increased the consumption of intoxicants, and the conse- 
quent evils, in Ireland, that three ministers of Belfast 
convened a public meeting to consider what could be done 
to check the evil, and especially to diminish the traffic in 
ardent spirits on the Sabbath. It w T as decided at that 
meeting that Rev. Dr. Edgar should prepare and present 
through the public press, an appeal to the public. While 
engaged in preparing his address, he learned through an 
American clergyman, the nature, progress and beneficent 
results of the American movement, and embodying these 
facts in his address, accompanied with strong recommenda- 
tions for the trial of the experiment, gave it to the public 
through the columns of the secular papers, on the 14th of 
August. 

On that same day, Rev. G. W. Carr, a minister in New 
Ross, in the south of Ireland, who had also been studying 
and advocating the American system, organized a Temper- 
ance Society among his own people } the following being 
their pledge : 

" We, the undersigned members of the New Ross Temperance 
Society, being persuaded that the use of intoxicating liquor is, 

* Ibid, p. 38. . 



Moderation Societies. 291 

for persons in health, not only unnecessary hut hurtful, and that 
the practice forms intemperate appetites and habits ; and that 
while it is continued, the evils of intemperance can never be 
prevented — do agree to abstain from the use of distilled syririts, 
except as a medicine in case of bodily ailment ; that we will 
not allow the use of them in our families, nor provide them for 
the entertainment of our friends ; and that we will, in all suit- 
able ways, discountenance the use of them in the community 
at large. "* 

" In less than twelve months it was reported that there were 
sixty societies in existence with about 3,500 registered members. 
Of their further progress we have no information, except that 
the Solicitor-General stated in 1831, that there were then * up- 
wards of 15,000 members of Temperance Societies in Ireland.' "t 

In the Fall of 1829, Mr. Henry Forbes, a merchant of 
Bradford, Yorkshire, England, while on a business visit to 
Glasgow, attended one of the public meetings of the Tem- 
perance Society, and at once became interested in its work. 
Procuring a number of the tracts then being circulated by 
that society, he put them in circulation in Bradford, and 
on the 2nd of February, 1830, organized there the first 
Temperance Society in England. Advocates of the cause 
from Scotland and Ireland, assisting in the work, other 
societies were formed, — at Warrington in April, Manches- 
ter in May, Liverpool in July, and Leeds in September, — 
so that at the close of the year there were about 30 socie- 
ties, with an aggregate of 10,000 members. An organiza- 
tion was effected in London, in June, 1831. The pledge 
was: 

u We agree to abstain from distilled spirits, except for medic- 
inal purposes, and to discountenance the causes and practice 
of intemperance"." 

The London Society, in their first annual report, stated 
that u 55 auxiliary societies had been formed, and that 
nearly 100,000 of the publications of the Society had been 
printed in London alone." Societies had also been formed 
in the army and navy. 

* Teetotaller's Companion, p. 320. f Couling, pp. 29, 30. 



292 Alcohol in History. 

A pledge adopted by the Society in Blackburn, in 1831, 
will give an idea of the general reservation which the tem- 
perance men of that day made of their right to moderate 
indulgence. 

" We, the undersigned, believing that the prevailing opinions 
and practices in regard to the use of intoxicating liquors are 
most injurious, both to the temporal and spiritual interests of 
the people of this place, and that decided means of reformation, 
including example as well as precept, are loudly and impera- 
tively called for, do voluntarily agree, that we will totally ab- 
stain from the use of ardent spirits, except for medicinal pur- 
poses ; that if we use other liquors it shall be in great moderation ; 
and that we will never use them in any inn or house in which 
they are sold, except when necessary for refreshment in travelling or 
transacting ou sin ess from home, in order that, by all proper means, 
we may, to the utmost of our power, discountenance the causes 
and the practices of intemperance.' 7 * 

The pledge adopted by the Preston Society in 1832 was 
similar to this. 

In Sweden, the first Society on the basis of total absti- 
nence from distilled liquors was organized at Stockholm, 
in 1831. The societies continued to increase, though 
encountering great opposition, till in ten years they num- 
bered about 500. 

Recently several attempts have been made in the United 
States to revive Moderation Societies, and in a few locali- 
ties such organizations have been created. The plan of 
Dr. Hartt, before referred to, looks no farther than to the 
prevention of " excessive drinking. 7 ' Dr. Crosby, of New 
York, organized the " Business Men's Society for the 
encouragement of Moderation.'* This society seeks to 
accomplish its purpose by means of pledges, four in all 
which are offered to the choice of those who \vould be en- 
rolled in membership. The first is a pledge of total absti- 
nence from all intoxicants for such length of time as the 
signer may designate ; the second is a pledge to abstain 
from ail intoxicants except wine and beer, and these to be 



*Ibid, pp. 42-48. 



Moderation Societies, 293 

drunk only at meals ; the third is a pledge, not to drink 
any intoxicating* liquors till after 5 o'clock in the afternoon 
of any day • and the fourth, pledges the signer not to drink 
as a beverage, any intoxicating liquors at the expense of 
any other person, nor to invite another to drink. It is 
reported that during the first year of the existence of the 
society it gave 22, 616 pledges, being 5,661 of the first, 
4,100 of the third • and 12,855 of the fourth. Many, it is 
said, who began with the thud or fourth, changed them for 
the first.* It is believed that many who have taken the 
first, were already enrolled in other total abstinence organi- 
zations, but renewed their pledges here for the purpose of 
influencing others. 

In May, 1878, the Pontifical sanction was obtained for 
" the erection of the Sodality of the League of the Cross 
for the Suppression of Drunkenness in St. Lawrence's 
Church, 64 E. 84th St., New York," and in Feb. 1879, 
"power to affiliate similar societies/' was also obtained from 
the Pope. This Society offers its members the option" of 
two pledges : one of Total and the other of Partial Absti- 
nence. Those w r ho take the partial pledge, are forbidden 
by Rule seventh of their Laws to drink what is allowed 
them, " in bar-rooms, saloons, beer-gardens, or such like 
places, or at picnics, or excursions." 

" Those who take the Partial pledge may at any time change 
it for the Total; but those who take the Total, must keep it for 
at least a year before they may change it for the Partial." 
" The pledge of Total Abstinence binds those who take it to 
abstain from all intoxicating drinks, beer of every kind, no 
matter by what name it may be known, cider, cordials, bitters, 
etc. etc." "Men who take the pledge of Partial Abstinence, 
bind themselves not to exceed in the day of 24 hours, three 
glasses of porter, ale, beer of any kind, or cider, or three wine- 
glasses of wine, or two wine glasses of brandy, whiskey, gin, or 
rum, and nou to drink this in places forbidden by Rule 7. 
Women who take the pledge of Partial Abstinence are limited to 
two glasses of beer, ale", etc., or one glass of brandy, whiskey, 

* " The Signal," Chicago, April 29, 1880, 



294 Alcohol in History. 

etc., or two glasses of wine, and under restrictions similar to 
those of the men. 

" If any exceed the quantity the rule allows, or violate Rule 
7 in their use of it, they must renew their pledge before the 
Director, give up their old card, receive a new one, dated on 
the day on which they renewed their pledge, and undergo an- 
other probation." * 

IV. Total Abstinence Societies. — Dr. Lees places 
at the head of his chapter on u Ancient Teetotalism," f the 
following quotation from the Medico-Chirurgical Review : 
" Without contradiction, in Every Age of the World there 
has been a Total Abstinence Movement." And then, 
in confirmation of this statement, gives historic proof 
by citations from the records of antiquity. China, India, 
Persia, Egypt, Greece, all contribute their testimonies. 
The Bible also speaks for the work among the Israelites, 
and of the Apostolic demands in Christian antiquity. Hav- 
ing already alluded to the latter in speaking of Ecclesias- 
tical Penalties, no attempt will be made here to go over 
the ground so well covered by Dr. Lees 5 but a brief men- 
tion will be made of some of the early traces of Total 
Abstinence not mentioned by him, and of their causes or 
chief incitements, before attempting to trace the origin and 
extent of this effort in modern times. 

The author just named has quoted from the "Modern 
Universal History/' to the effect that eleven hundred 
years before Christ, a Chinese emperor issued a decree for- 
bidding the use of wine in his dominion. Beyond question 
the " Announcement about Drunkenness, v (already quoted 
from, a few pages back,) is the decree alluded to. This 
prohibition did not aim at Total Abstinence, but only at 
checking such excessive use of what the document calls 
" spirits/' as rendered the drinker wholly unable to attend 
to his business. The subsequent mention of Buddah, of 

* The Crusade or League of the Cross for the Suppression of 
Drunkenness, 1879, pp. 15, 18, 19-21. 
t Works, Vol. II. pp. 1-15. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 295 

his five special laws, and particularly of the fifth : " Walk 
steadily in the path of purity, and drink not liquors that 
intoxicate or disturb the reason," and that his opinions 
rapidly spread and prevailed " over China " as well as over 
other countries, is the more reliable intimation of the fact 
of Total Abstinence in China, and of its causes. Buddah, 
— which means, u The Wise," — was born in India nearly 
six hundred years before Christ. He founded a religion in 
which Total- Abstinence was imperatively demanded of the 
priesthood, and intoxication was forbidden to the laity. 
The vow taken by the young priest included this : "I 
will observe the precept or ordinance that Forbids the 
use of intoxicating drinks, which lead to indifference 
to religion." He was instructed that it was his duty, and 
must be made his rule, " to proclaim first the reward to 
be received for the giving of alms, and then to enforce the 
precepts." " But tliere is no reward to Mm who gives intox- 
icating liquors" # This religion, high in its aim, and rigid 
in its requirements, made early and rapid spread in China, 
and for nearly two thousand years, having most hearty 
reception, taught and secured Total Abstinence. 

If the reader will turn back to the account of Intemperance 
in Persia, in the previous chapter, it will be noticed that, — 
strange as the inconsistency may seem, — while the gods 
were to be plentifully supplied with inebriating drinks, 
drunkenness among the people was attributed wholly to 
the hostile evil powers, and that even to simulate intoxica- 
tion was regarded as sinful. These teachings, to a people 
so devout as the Zoroastrians were noted for being, — teach- 
ings that were repeated on every religious occasion, — must 
have made the ancient people strong in their efforts to 
wholly abstain. 

Mahomet's conquest of Arabia, and the spread of his 
religion over other countries, was also the triumph and 
establishment of Total Abstinence as the rule for millions 

* Hardy's Eastern Monacnisin, pp. 24, 80-82. 



296 Alcohol in History. 

of human beings, as is too well known to be disputed, how- 
ever true it may be that in later years, many of his fol- 
lowers have fallen away from his precepts. 

The Romans enforced total abstinence on the women of 
their nation, guarding against its violation in a great 
variety of ways. Atkenseus quotes Polybius as saying in 
his sixth book : 

"It was forbidden to women to drink wine at all. However, 
they drank what is called Passiun ; and that is made of raisins, 
and when drank is very like the sweet ^Egosthenite and Cretan 
wine, on which account men use it when oppressed by excessive 
thirst. And it is impossible for a woman to drink wine without 
being detected : for, first of all, she has not the key of the cel- 
lar ; and in the next place, she is bound to kiss her relations, 
and those of her husband, down to cousins, and to do this every 
day when she first sees them ; and besides this, she is forced to 
be on her best behavior, as it is quite uncertain whom she 
may chance to meet : for if she has newly tasted wine, it needs 
no informer, but is sure to betray itself." * 

Turning to modern times, where the principle of Total 
Abstinence has been maintained through the agency of 
pledges and organizations, the first instance of which we 
have reliable information, is the case of Micajah Pendle- 
ton, of Virginia, who, witnessing the lamentable effects of 
drinking on his neighbors, and desiring to fortify himself 
in all possible ways against becoming a victim to the evil, 
drew up, and signed a Total Abstinence pledge in the 
early part of the year 1800. Desiring to associate others 
with himself in the good work, — though not, so far as is 
now known, attempting any formal organization, — he in- 
duced many of his neighbors to sign with him 5 and it is 
said that others, in different parts of the State, followed his 
example. Had he been a man possessing the gifts of pop- 
ular address, he would no doubt have become the leader 
in organized work 5 but lacking these, and depending 
exclusively on his personal influence, manifest wholly in a 

* Book X. c. 56. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 297 

private way with his neighbors, his work was limited.* 
Following soon after this, as we have seen, the Pledges 
and Organizations to secure community against the evils 
of the use of ardent spirits, were introduced, and held 
exclusive possession of the temperance field for more than 
a quarter of a century. In 1833 these began to give way 
to Total Abstinence organizations, which in a few years 
obtained entire control of the temperance work. A 
variety of causes led to this radical change. 

(I.) The first, and most significant, was the fact that little 
or no reform was produced in the inebriates who had been 
induced to sign the half-way pledge, and that the allowed 
moderate use of fermented drinks to the young was rapidly 
recruiting the army of drunkards. This inevitable ten- 
dency of an allowed moderate indulgence by those seeking 
to reform, had been predicted in the Address issued by the 
Fairfield Association in 1813. 

"The first remedy which we would suggest," it said, "par- 
ticularly to those whose appetite for drink is strong and in- 
creasing, is a total abstinence from the use of all intoxicating 
liquors. This may be deemed a harsh remedy, but the nature 
of the disease absolutely requires it. People often form resolu- 
tions of breaking off from the use of spirits by degrees. . . . 
For the drunkard, or the almost drunkard to think of reform- 
ing by degrees, is perfectly idle. If he should attempt and ever 
begin to reform by taking a little less and a little less, daily, he 
would most certainly relapse, in a very short time. To parley 
with the enemy in- this way, is just about the same thing as 
surrendering at discretion. . , . Could we make our voice 
heard by all these persons throughout the United States, we 
would entreat them to avoid the gulf into which they are plung- 
ing. We would say, friends and fellow-citizens, move not a 
step further in your downward course. Conquer by total ab- 
stinence from strong drink, that perilous habit, which, if per- 
sisted in, will prove your undoing. Escape from the enemy of 
your souls and bodies, while you may. Make no half-way ef- 
forts. Be resolute, be persevering, and you will obtain a glori- 

* War of Four Thousand Years, p. 184. Centennial Temper- 
ance Volume, p. 425. 



298 Alcohol in History. 

cms victory. Say not, you cannot break off all at once. This 
very plea proves the greatness of your danger. Have you come 
to love liquor so well, that you cannot do without it ? n * 

Experience demonstrated the truth of this prediction the 
more rapidly the moderation movement spread, and the 
more numerous its converts became. As early as 1825, 
Rev. Joshua Leavitt, of Connecticut, was exposing the 
evils of moderate drinking, and advocating Total Absti- 
nence, in the columns of the u Christian Spectator.* 7 He 
w r as seconded by Rev. Calvin Chapin, who in January, 
1826, commenced a series of able papers on " Total Ab- 
stinence the only Infallible Antidote/ 7 in the " Connecticut 
Observer." In April, 1826, the "National Philanthropist,'" a 
weekly paper in aid of the temperance cause, was commenced 
in Boston, and had for its motto : " Temperate Drinking 
is the Down-hill road to Intemperance."" The next year, 
both the Massachusetts and the New Hampshire Medical 
Societies passed resolutions declaring it to be their profound 
conviction that water was the only proper beverage for 
man."* f 

In 1832, Dr. Edwards, in his report as corresponding 
Secretary of the American Temperance Union, said that of 
the many reformed drunkards who had joined the various 
Temperance Societies, some had gone back to drunkenness, 
and that in most cases " they had done so without breaking 
their pledge, having become intoxicated on other than distill- 
ed liquors.'* This statement being challenged, much inves- 
tigation followed. Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro*, N. Y., in- 
stanced '• numerous reformed drunkards wmo had gone' back 
on cider. Others reported lapses on wine. Others on beer. 
The basis of all these drinks w^as found to be alcohol, gen- 
erated in fermentation and not in distillation - y and hence 
the conclusion was, that if men would have the reform pro- 
gress, and our children saved, the pledge must embrace all 
intoxicating drinks.'" It was also declared to be a growing 

* An Address, etc., pp. 25, 26. 

f Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 435-40. 



Total Abstinence Societies, 299 

conviction that " sound and stable-minded temperance men 
were becoming satisfied that they were far better off with- 
out fermented drinks than they were with them." 

A circular of inquiry on this subject, addressed to a large 
number of intelligent gentlemen, brought replies of a most 
decided character, placing wine, cider and malt liquors un- 
der the ban as deleterious articles to the human constitution. 
No testimony was stronger or more influential than that of 
Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst College. Said he : 

" I have watched the reformation of some dozens of inebriates, 
and have been compelled to "Witness the relapse of many who 
had run well for a time. And I say, without any fear of contra- 
diction, that the greatest obstacle to the reformation of drunk- 
ards is the habitual use of wine, beer, cider and cordials by the 
respectable members of community ; as in very many, I believe 
in most cases, intemperate habits are formed, and the love of 
alcoholic drinks induced, by the habitual use of these lighter 
beverages. I rejoice to say that a very great majority of the 
several hundreds of clergymen of my acquaintance, are decided 
friends of the temperance cause, and both by preaching and 
practice inculcate total abstinence from all that can intoxicate 
as a beverage/' * 

This testimony had great weight, especially as in 1830, 
Prof. Hitchcock had said in one of his Lectures to the stu- 
dents of Amherst : " I should consider it extremely injudic- 
ious and even Quixotic, for any temperance society to 
require total abstinence from the milder stimulants/' f 

Dr. Marsh says of this period : 

" Alcohol was diffusing itself through all the veins of society, 
in fermented drinks. Breweries sprang up as by enchantment. 
Distillers turned their whiskey over to the wine factor. The 
happy family saw their hopes blasted in ihe, return of the re- 
formed father, through hard cider and drugged beer, to drunk- 
enness. Even temperance men were seen intoxicated on sherry 
and porter, and the youth of the land were lawfully plunging, 
amid the exhilarations of champagne, into the vortex of ruin." X 

* Marsh, pp. 42, 43. 

f Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 442. 

t Introduction to the American edition of Anti-Bacchus, 1840, 
p. 15. 



300 Alcohol in History. 

Mr. Pleasants says : "The most deplorable apostacy -was com- 
mon in all quarters of the Union, and the enemies of sobriety, 
when a man was seen more than ordinarily drunk, were wont 
to say, ' there goes a member of the Temperance Society.' n * 

What was true in America was also alarmingly true in 
England, and elsewhere abroad. A member of the Society 
in Bradford, England, said: 

"Here the first moderation society was formed; and here 
there was no want of zeal, talent, or piety in the working of 
that system ; and yet, in five years, we did not succeed in re- 
forming one solitary drunkard." • 

Of the Preston Society it was reported that : " By visiting 
the members at home it was discovered that numbers of 
them got drunk, not with ardent spirits, but malt liquor." 
Of the Society of Halifax it was said : " Xo drunkards 
were reclaimed, and not many of the members reduced their 
daily consumption of wine or porter." 

Rev. Dr. Edgar, one of the pioneers of the movement in 
Ireland, testified: 

" We have seen as plainly as light can show it, that all plans 
which we have hitherto adopted for putting an end to intem- 
perance, have been to a melancholy extent unavailing. They 
have employed only a portion of the means which the gospel 
prescribes ; and hence not sufficiently strengthened precept by 
examine. They have said to the drunkard : ' We will wean you 
ofl by degrees from your intemperate habits ; , and thus, with the 
best intentions, they have contributed to the drunkard's doom. 
They have said to the temperate : i AVe will allow you to drink 
moderately ' — without inquiring into the nature of the drink 
employed ; and thus they have contributed to support and 
patronize the school in which drunkards are trained. They have 
unconsciously conducted the temperate man forward through, 
all the stages of free drinking, till he is temperate no more." f 

(II.) Xot only was the pledge against the use of ardent 
spirits defective in principle, in ignoring the fact, that 
drunkenness is produced by all beverages which contain 

*War of Four Thousand Years, p. 194. 
t Teetotaller's Companion, pp. 324, 325. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 301 

alcohol, whether distilled or fermented, but it was practi- 
cally a discrimination against the poor and in favor of the 
rich, in that it forbade the former and allowed the latter. 

Dr. Macnish intimated this in his " Anatomy of Drunk- 
enness/ 7 where he accused the members of temperance 
societies of practising on themselves a delusion, and showed 
that while they follow the rules of the society they are 
certainly habituating themselves to intemperance, by the 
"inconsistency of allowing their members to drink wine 
and malt liquors, while they debar them from ardent spirits. 
They do this, 77 he says, " on the ground that on the first 
two a man is much less likely to become a drunkard than 
upon spirits — a fact which may be fairly admitted, but 
which, I believe, arises in some measure from its requiring 
more money to get drunk upon malt liquors and wine than 
upon spirits.."* 

Dr. Marsh relates that when ? in 1831, he was endeavoring 
to hold a Congressional Temperance meeting in Washing- 
ton, he called on Senator Grundy, to secure his aid, who 
replied to him that "he would speak; but^ if he did, he 
should be an ultra, for he should go against wine ; he had 
no idea of calling upon the laboring population to give up 
their ardent spirit and leave the more refined and wealthy 
to drink their wine^ when he knew it was equally a source 
.of drunkenness." t An anecdote, showing that even the 
poorest of the poor were aware of this discrimination, is 
told of an ignorant negro, who was employed by a- clerical 
member of the old society, to cut wood for him : 

1 * On visiting him to see what progress he was making, the 
clergyman saw a jug among the chips, and said : 'What is here % 
Snm? ? 'Oh! yes, massa,' said the negro ; 'but if I could buy 
wine as you do, I would not have this vile stuff. ' " 

The following incident will also show how it was re- 
garded by the intemperate generally, It is said that 
somewhere about the year ±830, a man in Philadelphia, 

? Chapter XV. t Marsh, Autobiography, p. 31. 



302 Alcohol in History. 

who had taken the old pledge, called a meeting of the 
friends of Temperance, for the purpose of awakening 
public interest in the cause. 

"Singularly enough, many noted topers were among the 
audience ; and as soon as the hour had come, one of these moved 
that a certain person, at that time a very intemperate man, be 
called to the chair. As the nominee, though a hard drinker, 
was a very popular mau, the motion was quickly seconded and 
easily carried. As soon as the chairman had taken his seat, 
some one in the crowd offered the following resolution : 

" ' Whereas, The object of all drinking is to produce intoxica- 
tion in the cheapest and most expeditious manner possible ; and 
whereas, the substitution of the more costly drinks, such as 
wine and beer, has a tendency to increase the expense of the 
operation without lessening the disposition to drink, therefore, 

" i Resolved, That we recommend to all true friends of temper- 
ance to quit the use of every other intoxicating beverage ex- 
cept whiskey, rum, giu, or brandy/ 

" These were carried by a large majority, and the gentleman 
who called the meeting together left it amid peals of laughter." * 

Such an exhibition of the manifest partiality and injustice 
of the old plans, had no little influence in leading to a 
radical change in both theory and practice. 

(III.) Another agency in showing the need of total 
abstinence, was the startling facts brought prominently to 
light at about the time of this transition period, in regard to 
the effects of all kinds of intoxicants on the human body in 
predisposing it to disease, and in preventing its recovery 
from sudden and violent sickness. The first fact was ap- 
parent during the general prevalence of the cholera, in 1832. 
Physicians were so well aware of the inability of the drinker 
of intoxicants to resist the attacks of this scourge, that early 
that year, and before it had reached their locality, they 
sounded the alarm and called on the people to abstain. In 
London, England, placards were daily carried through the 
streets some weeks before a case of cholera had been re- 
ported, bearing in large letters the words : u all spirit 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 446, 447. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 303 

DRINKERS WILL BE THE FIRST VICTIMS OF THE CHOL- 
ERA." 

In New York and Albany, U. S., thonsancls of posters 
with tliis advice printed on them, were put np with good 
effect : " Quit dram drinking if you would not 
have the cholera." Those who were so unwise as to 
disregard the warning, paid the penalty of their infatuated 
self-assurance with their lives. Nine-tenths of the victims 
of the disease were from the ranks of the intemperate. 

M. Huber said of 2,160 persons whom he saw die in twen- 
ty-one days in one town in Russia : u It is a most remark- 
able circumstance that persons given to drinking have been 
swept away like flies. In Tifflis, containing 20,000 in- 
habitants, every drunkard has fallen — all are dead — not 
one remains." 

In the city of Washington, D. C, the Board of Health, 
alarmed at the progress of the disease, issued an order de- 
claring the grog-shops a public nuisance, and forbidding 
their continuing their traffic for ninety days. The Boston 
Board of Health also published their opinion : " That all 
kinds of ardent spirits and other strong stimulants are not 
useful in preventing cholera, but that they dispose to its., 
attack." * 

The statistics which were gathered after this visit of the 
scourge had ceased, show how wise these warnings and pre- 
cautions were. A physician waiting from Montreal, said : 

" Cholera has stood up here, as it has done everywhere, — the 
advocate of Temperance. It has pleaded most eloquently, and 
with most tremendous effect. The disease has searched out the 
haunt of the drunkard, and has seldom left it, without bearing 
away its victim. Even moderate drinkers have been but little 
better off." 

Dr. Bronson, of Albany, said : 

" Drunkards and tipplers have been searched out with such 

* Tract ^o. 3, published by the National Temperance Society 
and Publication House, New York : " Cholera Conductors. 7 ' By 
Eev. James B. Dunn. 



304 Alcohol in History. 

unerring certainty, as to show fhat the arrows of death have 
not been dealt out with indiscrimination." 

With regard to those who died in that city, over 16 years 
of age, the physicians reported, and the Board of Health, 
vouching for the accuracy of the report, lecommended that 
it be published for general circulation : 

" Whole number of deaths 336 

Intemperate 140 

Free drinkers 55 

Moderate drinkers 131 

Strictly temperate 5 

Members of Temperance Societies 2 

Unknown 3 

336 336." * 

A more fearful illustration of the dangerous evil of in- 
temperance as a physical curse, it would be difficult to find. 
Other testimonies of like character might be adduced, but 
these are sufficient to establish the fact that any use of 
intoxicants disables the human system and makes it an easy 
prey to this dreadful disease. t The apprehension of this 
fact had great influence in bringing in the Total Absti- 
nence era in the Temperance cause. 

A second illustration of the physiological result of the 
use of all intoxicants, was that afforded by a series of 
remarkable experiments by Dr. Beaumont, Surgeon in the 
U. S. Army, on the stomach of a man in full health and 
strength. Alexis St. Martin, while in the employ of the 
American Fur Company, in June, 1822, was accidentally 
wounded by the discharge of a musket, which produced an 
opening in his stomach, about two and a half inches in 
circumference. In 1825, some time after he had fully re- 
covered his health and strength, this aperture still remain- 
ing, and the surrounding wound firmly cicatrized to its 
edges, Dr. Beaumont commenced a series of gastric experi- 

* Mirror of Intemperance, pp. 125, 126. 

t See more full citations in Dr. Hargreaves' " Alcohol, What it 
Is and what it Does," pp. 313-323. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 305 

ments with him, lasting four months. Similar experiments 
were made four years later, and a more extended series 
for a year, commencing in November, 1832. Through 
this aperture in his patient's stomach, the experimenter saw 
the full effect on the stomach of everything that entered 
it.* Alcoholic drinks of all kinds were swallowed by St. 
Martin, and invariably they produced inflammation and dis- 
ease, acting in every case as poison would act. Many of 
these experiments were made in Washington, D.C., and 
many in Plattsburg, N. Y. ) and as facts in regard to 
them were from time to time made known to the public, 
they could not fail to arrest attention, and wiiile they exci- 
ted wonder, they also produced a deep impression, espe- 
cially in those whose attention had been given to the sub- 
ject of intemperance. Finally, Dr. Beaumont gave a 
history of his experiments, in which he declared that "The 
whole class of alcoholic liquors, whether simply fermented 
or distilled, produced very little difference in their ultimate 
effects on the system." f This declaration, based not on 
speculation, but on what Dr. Beaumont had seen with his 
own eyes, as actually going on in St. Martin's stomach, 
exploded many theories in regard to the harmlessness of 
the lighter forms of intoxicants, and gave a wonderful 
impetus to the cause of total abstinence. 

(IV.) The attitude of the Christian Church, in its various 
branches, had no little to do in changing the character of 
temperance theories and acts. I do not overlook the fact 
that many ministers stoutly arrayed themselves against the 
total abstinence movement, but I feel confident that in 
nearly every ecclesiastical organization where there was 
any difference of opinion in regard to temperance methods, 
the friends of total abstinence steadily gained ground, 
and at last were largely in the majority. And even before 
this idea gained the ascendant, the immorahty of the traffic 

* See also Dr. Hargreaves* Essay, p. 332. 
t Experiments, etc., 1833, p. 50. 
20 



306 Alcohol in History. 

was clearly seen, and this clearing of the vision at once 
helped to still farther sight and to a constantly nearer 
approach to solid vantage ground. Drunkenness was 
acknowledged, and had long been, as the chief cause of 
church discipline, and ministers and churches could not be 
blind to the fact that drunkenness was not checked by 
moderation. 

The action of several of the leading religious bodies was 
similar to that of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church, in 1831, when it declared it to be "a well-established 
fact that the common use of strong drink, however moderate, 
has been a fatal, soul-destroying barrier against the influence 
of the Gospel." This was not long after followed by a 
thorough discussion of the u Wine question," especially of 
the relations of that question to the Sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper. To obtain all possible light on the sub- 
ject, a premium of $150 was offered for the best essay on 
the use of alcoholic wine at the Communion. There were 
numerous competitors, but the award was made to Rev. 
Calvin Chapin. 

Eev. Geo. B. Cheever, D.D., then of Salem, Mass., con- 
tributed largely to a wholesome agitation of the public 
mind by the publication of his little work : "Deacon Giles' 
Distillery," " one of the most masterly and effective blows 
ever inflicted on the liquor system up to the date of its 
publication." 

Bishop Hopkins, of the Episcopal Church in Vermont, 
afterwards an unfortunate defender of American slav- 
ery, came out in defence of the work of the rumsellers 
and the arguments of the drunkards, by giving to the pub- 
lic a book, entitled, "The Triumph of Temperance the 
Triumph of Infidelity." Arguing in this that the wines 
mentioned in the Bible are all intoxicating wines, he 
charged the advocates of Temperance with attempting to 
do what Christianity itself could not do, and with setting 
revelation aside as useless 5 and so endeavored to prove 
that the triumph of the modern Temperance cause would 



Total Abstinence Societies. 307 

be the triumph of Infidelity. Gerrit Smith, Dr. Edwards, 
and many others took up the challenge, and the churches 
and the secular world alike became educated aright by the 
controversy. 

It was under these circumstances, and also largely by the 
circulation of millions of pages of temperance literature, 
that the public mind became prepared for the advance step, 
the Total Abstinence Pledge, .and organizations for the 
spread of the Total Abstinence cause. 

The first Total Abstinence Society is said by Messrs. 
White and Pleasants, to have been established " at Hector/' 
(Schuyler County,) " in the State of New York, in 1818." * 

For the first eight years, however, it pledged its mem- 
bers to abstinence from the use of distilled spirits only. In 
1826 it adopted two pledges, leaving it optional with its 
members to sign either, as they might prefer. The first 
was the old pledge, the second required total abstinence 
from fermented as well as distilled intoxicants. In 1827 
the secretary of the society made up a roll of the member- 
ship, and to distinguish one class from another, marked the 
letters " O. P." against the names of those who took the 
old pledge, and the letter " T." against the names of those 
who took the pledge against the use of all intoxicants. Be- 
fore long the latter were called " T-totallers," — hence the 
origin of the word " Teetotaller." t 

The Fifth Annual Eeport of the American Temperance 
Society,— 1832, p. 46— said : 

" Before the formation of the Hector Temperance Society, 
Snore than 8,500 gallons of ardent spirit were annually consumed 
in the town. Eleven distilleries were in operation. Since that 
time the consumption of ardent spirit has diminished nine- 
tenths. Nine of the distilleries have been stopped, and two are 
now struggling for a doubtful existence. . . . There was 
scarcely grain enough raised in the town for the supply of its 
inhabitants ; but the last year it is supposed that 60,000 bushels 
were sold for foreign consumption.'' 

*War of Four Thousand Years, p. 193. 

t One Hundred Years of Temperance, p. 129. 



308 Alcohol in Histwy. 

Messrs. White and Pleasants also announce that, in 
182G, Itev. Thomas P. Hunt, — identified through a long 
life with the Temperance movement in America, in its ear- 
liest, and also in its most advanced stages of effort, — pre- 
pared a Pledge of Total Abstinence for the use cff children, 
which, being put in rhyme, made a deep impression on the 
memory. It was to this effect : 

" We will drink no whiskey, brandy or rum, 
Or anything else that will make drunk come." * 

Consecutive efforts in this direction, in America, may be 
said to date from the City of New York, early in 1833. In 
February of that year, meetings for the purpose of creating 
an interest in a National Convention to be convened in 
May, were held in all parts of the Union. After these 
meetings, and prior to the Convention in May, Luther Jack- 
son, a missionary in the city of New York, and. Secretary 
of the Eighth Ward Temperance Society, drew up, circulat- 
ed and published the following pledge : 

" We, whose names are hereunto annexed, believing that the 
use of intoxicating liquors, as a drink, is not only needless, but 
hurtful to the social, civil and religious interests of men ; that 
they tend to form intemperate appetites and habits ; and that, 
while they are continued, the evils of intemperance can never 
be done away : do therefore agree that we will not use them, or 
traffic in them ; that we will not provide them as articles of en- 
tertainment, or for persons in our employment ; and that in all 
suitable ways, we will discountenance the use of them in the 
community." 

This pledge being industriously circulated, received in a 
short time over one thousand signatures. It is a fair infer- 
ence to say that the society of which Mr. Jackson was 
secretary, adopted this pledge, as at his suggestion they 
held a grand festival on the fourth of July of that year, con- 
ducted strictly on total abstinence principles.! 

The National Convention held in Philadelphia, in May, 
* Ibid, p. 256. f Ibid, pp. 211, 212. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 309 

1833, composed of 440 delegates, representing nineteen 
and one territory, took advanced ground in reference 
be great reform. The two leading conclusions which it 
. and which by the generosity of one of its members 
it was able to publish extensively by the gratuitous dis- 
tribution of 100,000 copies of its proceedings, were : 

" First, that the traffic in ardent spirits, to be used as a bev- 
erage, was morally wrong, and ought to be universally aban- 
doned : Second, that an advance in the cause was demanded, 
and that it was expedient to adopt the total abstinence pledge 
as soon as possible." * 

For the purpose of diffusing information on these subjects, 
and exerting a moral influence which would tend to 
the spread of the principles and blessings of temperance 
throughout the land, the convention put in operation 
the u United States Temperance Union,' 7 an organization 
consisting of the officers of the American Temperance 
Society at Boston and the officers of each of the State Tem- 
perance Societies. 

The records of "The Massachusetts Society for the Sup- 
pression of Intemperance," show that : 

"A special meeting of the Society was held June 14, 1833. 
Mr. Sullivan, Chairman of the Committee, appointed at the last 
meeting, made a report, which concluded with several proposi- 
ti jus for the action of the Society, in the form of resolutions ; 
of winch the second affirmed, that total abstinence should be a 
fundamental principle of the proceedings of the Society in this 
cause. A very interesting debate arose with regard to it, which 
was continued, at the same place, during six successive appoint- 
ed meetings of the Society, and was finally terminated by the 
Society's adopting an article distinctly comprehending the- 
pledge of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks. The Pres- 
ident ruled that this pledge did not apply to the old members 
of the Society, unless they severally subscribed to it." f 

In June, 1834, the " Juvenile Branch of the Eighth 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 449. 
' f "Extract?:! from the Records,'' published in a volume issued 
by the Society, entitled: " When Will the Day Come?" p. 100. 



310 Alcohol in History. 

Ward Temperance Society , on the principle of total absti- 
nence, as a drink, from all intoxicating liquors/' was or- 
ganized in New York ; and shortly after, another Total 
Abstinence Society was started in the Fourteenth Ward 
of that city. But as early as the month of May, over eight 
thousand persons, members of the New York Temperance 
Society, had signed the new pledge.* 

During 1835 many local Societies had substituted the 
Total Abstinence Pledge for the Partial Pledge 5 and their 
example being followed by the New York State Society, 
in February, 1837, a second National Convention was 
held at Saratoga, in the summer of that year, which de- 
clared that " the pledge of temperance henceforth, should 
be that of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors/' t 
The United States Temperance Union, organized in 1833, 
having done little or nothing, was at this Convention super- 
seded by the " American Temperance Union," which at 
once became a mighty pow T er in the land, and for many 
years led the great work. By means of lectures, circula- 
tion of temperance literature, publication of Journals and 
papers, it exerted a wonderful and far-reaching influence. 
The story of its great work is faithfully told by the late 
Dr. Marsh, for many years its secretary and editor of its 
Journals, in his Autobiography. 

In some cases these changes were not effected without 
encountering great opposition. The pulpit often helped 
on the good work, but in many instances it threw obstacles 
in its way. The old societies, in some localities, denounced 
the new movement as fanatical and extreme, and in not a 
few places both the intemperates and the so-called moder- 
ates made common cause against the innovation. As a 
consequence, the church was violently assailed by some of 
the reformers, prejudice led to the free use of invective, and 
bad passions were in various ways manifest. But surely, 

* War of Four Thousand Years, p. 213. 
t Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 453. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 311 

slowly and permanently, the Total Abstinence cause ad- 
vanced, and in a short time, comparatively, occupied the 
entire field. 

"Two thousand societies, formed in New York State in 1837, 
on the moderation principle, had, in 1839, disbanded, aud some 
1,200 societies adopting the total abstinence principle, had been 
organized, with a membership of 130,000 ; and in many of the 
towns and villages of the New England States more than half 
the entire population of the towns were members of societies 
pledged to entire abstinence ; while in the United States and 
Canada there were fifteen temperance papers, ably conducted, 
advocating total abstinence." * 

About this time, some new and wholly unexpected in- 
fluences for the encouragement of workers in the field of 
Total Abstinence, were put in operation, and as one of 
them came from abroad, it may be well to drop the story 
of the cause in this country, and look for awhile at the 
progress that was being made in the Old World. 

The making of the initial movement in England has 
been claimed for several localities. Peter Burne, in his 
" Teetotaller's Companion," p. 328, says : 

" Paisley has the honor of being the first to declare for un- 
qualified and uncompromising temperance. Mr. D. Eichmond, 
surgeon, on the 14th of January, 1832, founded and became 
president of ' The Paisley Youth's Society for promoting Tem- 
perance on the principle of Abstinence from all Intoxicating 
Liquors/ The pledge adopted was as follows : i We, the under- 
signed, believing that the widely-extended and hitherto rapidly 
increasing vice of intemperance, with its many ruinous conse- 
quences, is greatly promoted by existing habits and opinions 
in regard to the use of intoxicating liquors in every form, and 
believing that it will be calculated to promote the furtherance 
of true and consistent temperance principles, and of the cause 
in general, do voluntarily agree to abstain from all liquors con- 
taining any quantity of alcohol, except when absolutely neces- 
sary [£. e, as medicines.] 

" A similar pledge was adopted some time in the month of 
May of the same year, by the temperance society of St. John's, 
New Brunswick. The palm has been claimed and erroneously 

* Ibid, p. 457. 



312 Alcohol in History. 

awarded to the Preston Society, as being the first to declare for 
entire abstinence; but the first pledge drawn up on that princi- 
ple in Preston, was not signed till the 23d of August following 
the establishment of the preceding societies ; and even then it 
was but a private pledge, and only signed by two individuals- 
John King and Joseph Livesey." 

It is allowed, however, by all who have written on the 
history of the cause in England, that to the Preston Society, 
more than to any or all others, the present position of the 
Temperance cause abroad is due. Their persistence, zeal 
and energy in the extension of the principle, entitle them 
to the credit of being the founders of the cause on a perma- 
nent basis. The Total Abstinence Pledge, in Preston, was 
largely the outgrowth of opposition on the part of the 
officers of the old Society, to the advocacy of Total Absti- 
nence Principles. When shortly after the organization of 
the general temperance society on moderation principles, in 
March, 1832, it was found that members were often drunk 
on beer, the leaders in the cause were perplexed and dis- 
couraged, and some of them determined on denouncing the 
use of fermented drinks and advocating the principle of 
total abstinence. This was prominently the attitude of Mr. 
James Teare, who gave an address of this character at a 
public meeting held in June of that year. The committee 
of the society were incensed, and cited Mr. Teare to appear 
before them to answer to the charge of breach of the rules — 
ardent spirits only being the article prohibited by the con- 
stitution. A few members of the society agreed with the 
committee that Mr. Teare's proceeding was unwarranted by 
the laws 5 while the accused acknowledged the truth of 
what had been charged against him, and promised that he 
should repeat the offence at every possible opportunity, and 
would never advocate any less thorough-going doctrine, in 
his attempts to further the temperance cause. 

Curiosity and reflection being awakened by this discus- 
sion, the Total Abstinence cause rapidly grew into favor, 
especially as, within a few weeks, other speakers adopted 



Total Abstinence Societies. 313 

and advocated it, and so provoked new consideration and 
further bearings before the committee. In the midst of the 
agitation thus caused, Mr. King challenged Mr. Livesey to 
sign a pledge of Total Abstinence with him, which he 
accepted, and the " private pledge" before alluded to thus 
had its origin : " We agree," it reads, "to abstain from all 
liquors of an intoxicating quality, whether ale, porter, wine 
or ardent spirits, except as medicine." 

The following week five others in the old society, also 
appended their names. Six of the seven who had now 
signed, were members of the committee, which then 
consisted of thirty-seven members of the general society. 
The opinions of their associates were rapidly changing 
as they noted the effects produced in those who had 
adopted the new measures, and soon it was proposed in 
committee to insert the new pledge in the constitution. 
The discussion brought a diversity of views to light. Some 
members were for placing the new pledge beside the 
old one, and working with both ; others .for rejecting the 
new altogether, while others were in favor of the new alone. 
After numerous meetings, a motion prevailed for the adop- 
tion of the new pledge in connection with the old one, and 
a committee was appointed to revise the private pledge and 
adapt it to use in connection with the original pledge in 
the constitution of the society. At the annual meeting in 
March, 1833, at which about 2000 persons were present, the 
private pledge, in this modified form, was adopted as a 
second pledge of the society, for those who wished to sub- 
scribe to it : • 

" We do further voluntarily agree to abstain, for one year, 
from ale, porter, wine, ardent spirits, and all intoxicating 
liquors, except as medicines or in a religious ordinance." 

The advanced teetotallers objected to the limitation of 
time in the pledge, but their objections were overruled, and 
they heartily renewed their efforts for success. The new 
pledge was at once signed by 34 persons, and during the 
year by 598. From this time the public advocacy of the 



314 Alcohol in History, 

temperance cause was on the Total Abstinence basis. An 
effort to diffuse a knowledge of the principles of the new 
movement, led to a voluntary mission to the adjoining 
towns, by six of the leading and zealous members, and 
great good was thus accomplished. Mr. Burne, from whose 
historical sketch these facts are obtained, relates the fol- 
lowing incident as accounting for the introduction of a now 
universally recognized word, as denoting the thorough-go- 
ing principle which characterized the new movement : 

" In the month of September of the present year, (1833), a new 
name was found for it by (the late) Richard Turner, a simple, 
eccentric, but honest and consistent reclaimed drunkard, who 
at this time had risen to the position of plasterer's laborer. Be- 
ing in the habit of speaking at the meetings, he is said to have 
made use of the following provincialisms in a phillipic against 
the old system : ' I'll hev nowt to do wi' this moderation — both- 
eration — pledge : I'll be rect down tee-tee-total for ever and ever.' 

" ' Well done/ exclaimed the audience. 'Well done, Dicky/ 
said Mr. Livesey, ' that shall be the name of our new pledge.' 
The prefix tee had before been occasionally employed in Lanca- 
shire to express & final resolve or event ; thus a thing irrecover- 
able was sometimes said to be ' fee-totally lost,' a perfectly com- 
plete piece of work was said to be 'tee-totally finished/ and a 
determination of relinquishment was expressed to ' give up fee- 
totally.' Conveniently embodying the sense of the new princi- 
ple, it was eagerly adopted to express it ; and being a few times 
employed in Livesey's Moral Reformer, soon became popularly 
established." P. 333. 

Meanwhile collisions between the moderationists and the 
teetotallers in the Preston Society, were frequent, and as a 
consequence spirited debates and sharp action followed. A 
member of the committee having been reported as being in 
the habit of giving liquors to some of his customers, it was 
resolved, after warm discussion, at a meeting in March, 
1834, to add the words " Neither give nor offer," to the 
teetotal pledge. In April following, the young people of 
the society, impatient of the dissensions caused by the 
dual character of the old organization, formed an exclu- 
sively Total Abstinence Society, under the following 
pledge : 



Total Abstinence Societies. 315 

"I do voluntarily promise that I will abstain for one year 
from ale, porter, wine, ardent spirits, and all intoxicating 
liquors, and will not give nor offer them to others, except as 
medicines, or in a religious ordinance ; and I will endeavor to 
discountenance all the causes and practices of intemperance." 

The society started with 101 members, between the ages 
of sixteen and twenty-five. During the year their numbers 
increased to 998. In less than a year, viz., at the annual 
meeting in March, 1835, the old society repudiated their 
" great moderation v pledge, by voting that those members 
who had subscribed to it only, should have three months' 
notice to take either another step in advance and adopt 
teetotalism, or step out of the society altogether.* 

These several stages in the history of the Preston 
Society, have thus been somewhat minutely traced, because 
they bring into light the persistence and zeal of those to 
whose missionary spirit and labors we trace the permanent 
establishment of the Total Abstinence cause throughout the 
world, America as well as Europe being indebted to them 
for general success in this great Temperance work, on the 
only safe basis of individual security against intemperance. 
They were instrumental in establishing societies in Man- 
chester, Birmingham, Lancaster, London and Garstang, in 
1834, and hence indirectly influential in securing the many 
organizations which came into being on account of* the 
good work done in these various localities. 

At Birmingham a physician confronted them and ap- 
pointed a meeting in which he proposed to " explode the 
folly of total abstinence." He was given a hearing, and 
answered. The formation of the teetotal society followed, 
and the opponent of the movement expressed his willing- 
ness to sign the pledge. 

In London, Mr. Livesey presented himself at the office 
of the " Moderation Society," and offered his services to aid 
them in their general work; but*as his labors were directed 

* Teetotallers' Companion, p. 334. 



316 Alcohol in History, 

against all intoxicants, he met with no encouragement, and 
was compelled, in order to get a hearing, to hire a place for 
his lecture on his own responsibility, and to go through the 
streets bell in hand, announcing the meeting in the fashion 
of a town crier. This meeting was followed up by others, 
and a society was formed in the summer of 1835, which 
was called " The British Teetotal Temperance Society " It 
met with great success, enrolling 3,000 members in ten 
months. At Garstang the difficulty of obtaining a place 
in which to hold their meetings, was overcome by the 
erection of a wooden building for that express purpose, 
probably the first building in the history of the world that 
was put up for a Total Abstinence hall. Mr. Teare named 
it " The Temperance Lighthouse." 

At the close of the year 1835, it was estimated that 
48,000 persons had signed the teetotal pledge in England, 
and that 2000 drunkards had been reclaimed. In July, 
1836, the first Conference of the British Association was 
held at Preston, delegates from twenty-seven societies being 
present, when it was 

"Resolved, That no society which, after three months from that 
date, retained the old pledge, should be considered a branch of 
the association ; and that the only pledge of the association 
should be the following : ( I do voluntarily declare that I will 
abstain from wine, porter, ale, cider, ardent spirits^ or any 
other intoxicating liquor ; and that I will not give or offer them 
to others, except as medicines, or in a religious ordinance ; and 
that I will discountenance all the causes and practices of in- 
temperance." 

For a long time the supporters of total abstinence, in 
England, had far less opposition from the public at large, 
than they received from the old societies. For about four- 
teen years these Moderates obstructed the work in England } 
noticeably so in London. 

There was, however, outside opposition. 

" Sometimes drunken men were employed by the publicans 
to disturb the meetings, and to annoy the ad^ocatss. At other 
times, the opposition took another form, and men were made to 



Total Abstinence Societies. 317 

suffer pecuniarily for their teetotalism. The following handbill, 
for example, was issued at Oswestry : — 

1 Sweeny New Colliery. 

M ' The proprietors of the above colliery have come to the con- 
clusion not to employ any teetotaller ; therefore none need ap- 
ply. 

" l The proprietors conceive that this resolution is a duty 
which they owe to the agricultural interests of the country, as 
well as to the welfare of the public in general. February 19, 
1883.' 

" 'In consequence of this resolution, 80 teetotallers who were 
already employed in the colliery, received their discharge, after 
one week's notice." 

But the cause went forward in spite of opposition so that 
in 1838, the "New British and Foreign Temperance 
Society/ 7 (a new name for the British Teetotal Temperance 
Society, mentioned above,) reported : 

" In five years only, we have some hundred thousand mem- 
bers. In North Wales alone, about one hundred thousand; 
amongst whom there are thousands of reclaimed drunkards. 
Amongst the advocates we can now enumerate at least 400 min- 
isters of religion, of all denominations, who have espoused our 
cause." 

In all England the number of teetotallers " amounted to 
400,000." 

Until 1839, the pledges in the New British and Foreign 
Society were of two kinds ) the one containing the " neither 
give nor offer * clause, was called the long pledge ) the 
other, without this clause, was called the short pledge. In 
March of this year a majority of the committee of the Society 
had resolved to substitute the American pledge, for both 
the long and short pledges 5 but before this could be done 
it must be submitted to a meeting of the society, composed 
of delegates from the different auxiliaries. The American 
pledge was as follows : 

" We, the undersigned, do agree that we will not use intoxi- 
cating liquors as a beverage, nor traffic in them ; that we will 
not provide them as an article of entertainment, or for persons 
in our employment ; and that, in all suitable ways, we will dis- 
countenance their use throughout the community." 



318 Alcohol in History. 

The society held its meeting in May. The motion to 
adopt the American pledge as a substitute for the other 
pledges, created a long, exciting, and unpleasant debate, and 
much contradictory and unsatisfactory action. The proposed 
change was several times defeated, but finally, at the an- 
nual meeting, on the 21st of May, the American pledge was 
adopted by a large majority, but not till many who were 
opposed to it, including Earl Stanhope, the president of 
the society, had withdrawn. These formed another society, 
in June, on the basis of the short pledge, called " The 
British and Foreign Society for the Suppression of Intem- 
perance." 

In 1842, after many unsuccessful attempts in that direc- 
tion, these two societies were dissolved, and their members 
immediately formed " The National Temperance Society." 

A great impetus was given to the cause in London in 
the summer of 1843, by the visit of Father Matthew, who 
during his stay of six weeks, administered the total absti- 
nence pledge to 69,446 persons, extending his visit to 
other cities and towns, — notably and with great success to 
Manchester, where 84,000 persons took the pledge in three 
days. He succeeded during his brief stay in England, in 
giving the pledge to 180,000 persons, exclusive of those 
pledged in London. A World's Temperance Convention, 
held in London, in August, 1846, was also of great ser- 
vice to the cause. A year later it was estimated that in all 
England there were about 1,200,000 pledged teetotallers. 
Societies rapidly multiplied; clergymen of all denomina- 
tions enlisted in the cause j temperance papers were numer- 
ous and well patronized, and temperance literature in vari- 
ous forms, was widely distributed and profitably read. 

In 1861, Mr. Tweedie, the publisher, reported to a mem- 
ber of Parliament that there were " at least 4,000 temper- 
ance societies in the United Kingdom, and not less than 
3,000,000 teetotallers." Of the present number and variety 
of agencies for the advance of the general cause in Eng- 
land, more will be said further on. The facts already nar- 



Total Abstinence Societies. 319 

rated have been chiefly drawn from Coulin's History of 
the Temperance Movement, and Burne's Teetotaller's Com- 
panion. 

In Scotland, as in England and America, the dangerous 
indulgence in lighter intoxicants, led to the abandonment of 
the pledge of abstinence from the nse of ardent spirits only 
and to the substitution of the pledge of abstinence from all 
intoxicants. The first instance of this in Scotland, is said 
to have been at Dunfermline, in Sept. 1830. A coffee- 
house being about to be established in that place, a meet- 
ing of the Temperance Society was called to consider what 
should be done to encourage and assist the enterprise. At 
that meeting it was made known that the society's com- 
mittee had agreed to allow the coffee-house keeper to sell 
porter and ales. To this, opposition was offered, though 
probably without success in preventing the committee's 
action from being endorsed by the society ; as on the fol- 
lowing evening, the opponents of the measure met to con- 
sider how they could counteract its influence. Their delib- 
erations resulted in the formation of a new society under 
the following : 

" We, the subscribers, influenced by the conviction that tem- 
perance is best promoted by total abstinence from all intoxicat- 
ing liquors, do voluntarily consent to relinquish entirely their 
use, and neither to give nor receive them upon any, save medi- 
cal cases — small beer excepted, and wine on sacramental occa- 
sions. 

u We likewise agree to give no encouragement or support to 
any coffee-house, established, or receiving countenance from, 
any temperance society, for the sale of intoxicating liquors. 

" Upon these principles we form ourselves into a society, to be 
called, ' The Dunfermline Association for the promotion of 
Temperance by the relinquishment of all intoxicating liquors. 7 " 

The reservation in regard to " small beer," — if that was 
an intoxicating beverage, — debars us from calling this a 
strictly Total Abstinence Society, although it would seem, 
both from the u conviction n on which the signers acted, 
and the name chosen by them, that it was their intention to 



320 Alcohol in History. 

make such an organization. Perhaps the most that can 
justly be said is, that it was in advance of all previous ac- 
tion. Sixty persons united with this society in a few days 
after its organization. 

It was nearly two years before this example of progress 
was imitated elsewhere. On the 14th of January, 1832, 
" The Paisley Youths' Society for promoting Temperance 
and the principle of abstinence from all Intoxicating Li- 
quors/' was instituted ) and on the following day, an organ- 
ization was effected at Glasgow, called the "Wadeston Total 
Abstinence Society." Of the radical character of these 
societies, there is no doubt. A few days later, the society 
at Greenlaw adopted the following rule : 

"VIII. Finally, that as some wish the 'other liquors/ the 
moderate use of which is allowed in the second article, placed 
upon the same footing with ardent spirits, as best suiting their 
peculiar views and circumstances, the society do not think this 
prejudicial to the cause. And looking upon the temperance and 
total abstinence principles as parts of one great whole, provision 
is here made for acting upon the latter. All, therefore, who do 
so, shall be considered members of this society ; and those wish- 
ing to avail themselves of this article shall be required to sign 
the following declaration : 

" We do resolve that so long as we are members of this asso- 
ciation we shall abstain from the use of distilled spirits, wines, 
and all other intoxicating liquors, except for medicine and sac- 
ramental purposes. Adherence to this principle will be notified 
by prefixing a * to the name." 

How far this may have been imitated by other societies, 
we have no information ; but it was probably almost an 
isolated case, as we are assured that many leaders of the 
Temperance work in Scotland, viewed the Total Absti- 
nence movement "with alarm, and hesitated not to de- 
nounce it as a rash and dangerous procedure, most certain 
to alienate friends, and thereby dantage the movement." 
" In several instances they sought to modify the consti- 
tution of the reformed associations, and again permit the 



Total Abstinence Societies. 321 

family and household use of intoxicants among their mem- 
bers."* 

The Total Abstinence cause made slow progress, in spite 
of earnest and eloquent efforts in its behalf. In September 
1836, a teetotal society was formed in Annan, a small 
town in Dumfries ; and in the same month, at the close of a 
lecture in Glasgow, it was voted : u That the old society 
pledge be abandoned, and the society meeting there adopt 
the clean pledge of the Preston friends, namely, — not to 
take or give any drinks, of whatever kind, that can cause 
intoxication. 77 This led, among others things, to a debate 
for two evenings in a week for three weeks, between the 
champions of moderation and teetotallism, resulting in a 
majority of the hearers declaring teetotallism the victor. 
In 1838 the cause received a new impetus through the ef- 
forts of several devoted lecturers and organizers, one of 
whom, the Rev. Robt. G. Mason, said in September of 
that year : 

" The cause is going on in Scotland as well, perhaps, as in any 
part of Great Britain. We have, at this moment, no fewer than 
70,000 pledges to total abstinence, and nearly double that num- 
ber materially improved by the influence of our principles. No 
fewer than 50,000 have been added to our ranks during the last 
year, and the good cause is daily making new accessions. In 
one small county, commonly called the ' Kingdom of Fife, 7 we 
have fifty separate societies, averaging about 300 each, and 
going on in a most flourishing manner. I have recently made 
a tour in the north, where during the short space of nine days, 
I lectured in all the following places — l Inverary, Huntly, Keith, 
Fochabers, Elgin, Newin, Campbelton, Cromarty, Fostrose, In- 
verness, Farres, Cullen, Portroy, Bauff, Aberdour Fraserburgh, 
Old Deer, Peterhead, and Aberdeen. In nearly all these places 
I succeeded in forming societies, most of which promise to do 
well. We have now, 15,000 in Edinburgh ; 12,000 in Glasgow ; 
5,000 in Paisley ; 3,000 in Dumfries ; 2,000 in Greenock : 1,500 in 
Dunfermline; aud 1,200 in Kilcardy ; in addition to several so- 
cieties which average at 700. I have delivered nearly one hun- 

* The History of the Temperance Movement in Scotland. 
Edinburgh, n. d. pp. 10, 12. 
21 



322 Alcohol in History. 

dred and fifty public lectures during the past two months, in 
upwards of eighty different places, and have formed more than 
one hundred and twenty societies in the past year." 

In 1842 Father Mathew made a brief visit to Glasgow, 
and during bis stay administered the pledge to at least 40,000 
in that city. 

In 1838 u The Scottish Temperance Union/ 7 was formed, 
but unfortunately local jealousies caused a division in a 
short time, and two Associations, one called the Eastern, 
and the other the Western, occupied the ground which the 
original organization could have covered as well. Both of 
these associations were short lived, and were superseded by 
the " Scottish Temperance League/ 7 in 1844. This is still 
the national association, and it does its work chiefly by 
publishing information and supporting temperance lecturers. 
It has seven agents constantly in the field ; circulates an 
average of 6,000 volumes of carefully prepared temperance 
literature in a year, distributes 600,000 tracts, and raises 
and spends about £8,000 annually.* 

It is claimed that a Total Abstinence Society was formed 
in Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland, as early as the 
year 1817. This claim was put forth at the " Temperance 
Congress of 1862/ 7 by Mr. Robt. Rae, Secretary to the Na- 
tional Temperance League, who stated that he then had docu- 
ments in his possession to show this fact, and that the society 
continued in active operation until it was absorbed in the 
more comprehensive movement in 1838. Their records 
and books were destroyed by fire in 1854 ,• but several of 
the original members who were alive in 1862, maintained 
that total abstinence was their bond of union from the be- 
ginning, and that the first rule of the society was expressed 
in the following words : " No person can take malt or spirit- 
uous liquors, or distilled waters, or anything inebriating, 
except prescribed by a priest or doctor. 77 1 

* Coulin, pp. 40-142. Logan, pp. 82-85. Centennial Temper- 
ance Volume, p. 42. 
t Logan, p. 81. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 323 

It may be safely said, however, without detracting from 
the honor which may belong to this pioneer movement, 
that no general interest was taken in the cause till about 
1838, when a few members of the Religious Society of 
Friends begun to hold weekly Total Abstinence meetings 
in the city of Cork. Meeting with very little success, they 
bethought them that much good might be accomplished, if 
it should be possible to induce Father Mathew, the Roman 
Catholic priest at Cork, to sign the pledge and give his in- 
fluence to the movement. William Martin, of the Society 
of Friends, waited on the priest to inform him of the con- 
viction of Friends in regard to it. He succeeded in inter- 
esting him, and at a small meeting, on the 10th of April, 
1838, Father Mathew attended and took the pledge. " If 
only one poor soul," he said^ u can be rescued from intem- 
perance and destruction, it will be doing a noble act and 
adding to the glory of God ; here goes in the name of the 
Lord." On the same evening a new society is formed, he 
is elected president, and commences the advocacy of Total 
Abstinence in an old school-room in Blackamore-lane. He 
had tried the moderation pledge, it is said, among his peo- 
ple, and had found it inadequate to meet and arrest the 
great evil of intemperance. Immediately his influence is 
felt among the members of his spiritual flock. Large num- 
bers crowded his residence, to whom, kneeling, he adminis- 
ters the following pledge ,* each person repeating after him : 
u I promise to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, except 
used medicinally, and by order of a medical man, and to 
discountenance the cause and practice of intemperance." 
Then passing among them, he lays his hand in blessing on 
the head of each, making the sign of the cross, dismisses 
them to his secretaries, where their names are registered, 
and each receives a medal and a card, containing the rules 
of the society ; and so makes room for other groups who 
are in waiting. Soon the crowds are too great to be ac- 
commodated in this manner, and so twice in the week he 
goes to the Horse Bazaar, where thousands kneel and 



324 Alcohol in History. 

receive the pledge ; the numbers so constantly increasing, 
that before the end of the year — in eight months — 156,000 
persons have received the pledge from him in Cork. 

His fame extends rapidly, and people flock to him from 
all portions of the land, so that he yields to solicitations 
and goes abroad to meet them. Visiting Limerick, the 
people swarm in immense crowds to meet him, extending for 
two miles along all the roads leading to the place. Private 
houses are crowded with those who have not been able to 
get within sound of his voice during his first day there, 
and over 5,000 persons remain in the streets over night. For 
four days he is almost incessantly engaged in giving pledges, 
and his secretaries register no fewer than 150,000 names. 
Moving on to other places, he is able to show at the close of 
the year 1840, that 1,800,000 men and women have on 
bended knees given him their solemn pledge of Total 
Abstinence from all intoxicants. And so the work goes 
on until in November, 1844, he reports that he has regis- 
tered " in Ireland 5,640,000 adherents of Total Abstinence 
principles." 

Father Mathew had a brother w T ho was a distiller, and a 
near relative, who is also in the same business, and they 
write to him while he is thus engaged : " If you go on 
thus, you will certainly ruin our fortunes." His answer 
goes back : "Change yourlrade; turn your premises into 
factories for flour $ at all events my course is fixed. Though 
heaven and earth should come together, we should do what 
is right." At one of the meetings in London, previously 
mentioned, he is reported to have said : 

"He had no sectarian object in view. Though a Catholic 
priest, he had been received in the most cordial manner by 
clergymen and lay members of the Established Church, by 
Wesley an s, Dissenters, Quakers, aye, and even Jews: and he 
had administered the pledge to millions of all sects. He wished 
to elevate mankind, and to promote the interests of religion, and 
the good of community, by that greatest of all blessings, sobri- 
ety. The people of Yorkshire, where he had administered the 
pledge to upwards of 100,000 persons, wished to pay him for his 



Total Abstinence Societies. 325 

services, and presents were offered to hini from persons of wealth 
and high standing in society, but he refused to accept of a 
farthing. He had expended £300 of his own money since he 
had been in England, but he did not regret it ; and if he had 
been disposed to favor himself and family, he should not have 
been a temperance advocate, and converted millions of his own 
countrymen from drunkenness to sobriety. A brother he dearly 
loved was the proprietor of a large distillery in Ireland, the 
bare walls of which cost £30,000 ; and he was compelled to 
close it and was almost Tuined by the temperance movement in 
that country, and the pledge which the people had taken to 
leave off drinking whiskey, which had caused so much disorder 
and bloodshed in his native land. The husband of his only 
sister, whom he also dearly loved, was a distiller, and became 
a bankrupt from the same cause. He was sorry to speak of 
those things, but when he was accused of being instigated to 
do what he had done to enrich himself, he felt compelled to 
deny the charge. It had also been intimated that he was mak- 
ing a large profit by the sale of medals — he never profited a 
shilling, and never would. There were 200 of them sold on 
Monday for a shilling each. The expenses of the day amounted 
to £15, and the overplus, if any, would be devoted to the fur- 
therance of the cause of total abstinence." 

Through his whole career in this work. Father Mathew 
so carried himself as to convince all that he was seeking 
the good of others, was devoted to their best interests, and 
was self-sacrificing in time, means and energy. At the 
present time the Irish Temperance League, organized in 
1859, is the chief instrumentality for the advance of the 
cause in Ireland. It has something over 100 local Total 
Abstinence societies connected with it. 

In various parts of the world, Total Abstinence societies 
are now established. In all the British colonies ,* in all 
the countries of Europe ; in India, China, Japan, Africa ; 
in all the islands of the seas, the cause has gained a foot- 
ing ; and this principle has been declared to be the only 
reliable and efficient means for staying the progress of 
intemperance. 

Returning now to note the progress of the Total Absti- 
nence cause in America, we find that by 1840 great gains 



326 Alcohol in History. 

had been made. Dr. Charles Jewett, then active in the 
reform in Massachusetts, said that in that State, " nineteen- 
twentieths of the clergy were total abstainers; and besides 
occasional sermons, very many of them gave the liquor- 
system a blow wherever and whenever they had opportu- 
nity. 77 The same might as well have been said of New 
England at large ; and all other parts of the nation were 
more or less actively engaged in the work, and to so 
good purpose, that in ten years the number of distilleries 
had diminished several thousands. And whereas in 1831, 
12,000,000 of people were consuming 70,000,000 gallons of 
ardent spirits, — an average of six gallons for every man, 
woman, and child, — in 1840, with the population increased 
to 17,000,000, the whole amount of distilled spirits con- 
sumed, was 43,000,000 gallons, less than three gallons for 
each person. The number of pledged teetotallers was about 
2,000,000, at least 15,000 of whom were reformed ine- 
briates. It seemed as though, in some localities, the limit 
of success had been reached, and some new impulse was 
needed, to insure further progress. Suddenly, and from an 
unexpected source, it came. 

Six men, far gone in their love of liquor, formed them- 
selves, in the city of Baltimore, into a club for social tip- 
pling. They met in the bar-room of Chase's tavern, 
where they frequently indulged in what they called " a 
good time. 77 Meeting together on the night of the 2nd of 
April, 1840, they learned that a noted temperance lecturer 
was to speak in the city that evening, and, more in sport 
than from any bettor motive, they appointed two of their 
number to go and hear him, and report. The committee 
brought back a favorable report, and while repeating the ar- 
guments to which they had listened, their landlord, overhear- 
ing, broke out in a tirade against temperance lecturers, de- 
nouncing them all as hypocrites. One of the six tartly reply- 
ing, " Of course it is for your interest to cry them down, at 
any rate, 77 provoked further debate, which being renewed 
each evening, resulted on the evening of April 5th, in the six 



Total Abstinence Societies. 327 

signing a pledge of Total Abstinence, and forming them- 
selves into a temperance society, which they named " The 
Washington Society. 77 The names of these six mechanics, 
with their trades, were Mr. K. Mitchel, tailor $ J. T. Hoss, 
carpenter ; D. Anderson, blacksmith 5 G. Steers, wheel*- 
Wright ; J. McOonley, coachmaker ; and A. Campbell, 
silver-plater. 

The following was their Pledge : 

" We, whose names are annexed, desirous of guarding against 
a pernicious practice, which is injurious to our health, standing 
and families, do pledge ourselves, as gentlemen, that we will 
not drink any spirituous or malt liquors, wine or cider." 

It is said that each member was at once put into office, 
as it required the full number to fill the positions which 
they had provided for in their constitution. Each member I 
also became an advocate of the cause, the agreement being 
that each should relate his history and the results of his 
experience. Their first meeting after their organization at 
the tavern, was at the carpenter's shop belonging to one of 
their number, and here they continued to assemble for a 
few weeks, gaining converts and increasing their member- 
ship j but in a short time, living strictly up to their rule, I 
that each member should " attend all the meetings and \ 
bring a man w^ith him," the shop was too small for their 
accommodation, and they moved to a school-house. Soon 
outgrowing this they obtained a church, but this soon fail- 
ing to hold them, they commenced meetings in the open 
air. As they were making it their business to seek out 
the drunkard in the day time, as far as practicable, their 
meetings rapidly increased in attendance and frequency, and 
they soon began to send out speakers by twos and threes 
to the neighboring towns and cities, where equal success 
awaited them as at home. Their success was marvellous^ 
The speeches of the reformed men, mainly confined to the 
relation of personal experiences, touched the hearts and 
consciences of drinking men as no other efforts could touch 
them ' } and at the close of their first year's work, they had 



328 Alcohol in History. 

brought more than 100,000 to sign the pledge, some of 
whom had been low in their drunkenness. 

Shortly after their first anniversary they sent out mis- 
sionaries, Messrs. Pollard and Wright going to the western 
part of Xew York ; Mr. Hawkins to New England ; and 
Messrs. Vickars and Small to the western States. Each 
delegation met with a success beyond their most sanguine 
expectations ; so that in a year from their starting, " it 
was computed that the reformation had included at least 
100,000 common drunkards, and three times that number of 
tipplers who were in a fair way to become sots." For four 
years their career was one of almost uninterrupted success, 
for in 184G there were not less than 5,000,000 teetotallers, 
connected with over 10,000 societies, in the United States. 
With great liberality, all classes of society rendered the re- 
formed men assistance in various ways : by providing them 
with clothing ; hiring halls for their meetings ; obtaining 
employment for such as were able to work ; and in numer- 
ous ways contributing to the comfort of their homes. The 
women organized Martha Washington Societies, as auxil- 
iaries to the original organizations, and made the well-being 
of the homes of the reformed men their special care. The 
Martha Washington Society of Boston, still survives. The 
movement even penetrated the legislative halls of the na- 
tion, leading to the reorganization of the Congressional 
Society, on a Total Abstinence basis. It awoke many of 
the churches to renewed activity in the temperance cause, 
and led in many places to extended revivals of religion. 

Much of fact, and much of speculation, has been written 
to account for the decline of the Washingtonian movement. 
The Churches have been blamed for their attitude to the Ee- 
formers, and the Reformers for their attitude to the Churches. 
The difficulty in each particular locality, it may not be 
easy to specify, but these general observations may per- 
phaps cover the case as a whole: The example set by the 
parent society, of having their meetings characterized by 
the relation of personal experiences, rather than by argu- 



Total Abstinence Societies. 329 

ments based on the varied relations of intemperance to the 
individual and to society, was too faithfully followed by 
the organizations which patterned after it. For a time the" 
novelty of having a meeting wholly conducted by those 
who had been drunkards, was popular and exciting 5 and 
no doubt thousands of men who feared that they were hope- 
lessly .enslaved to their cups ? were made strong to attempt 
reform, by the story and example of those who had been 
as low as themselves, who would not have been reached in 
any other w T ay. But necessarily there was great sameness 
both in the tragic and the lighter character of these per- 
sonal experiences ; intense excitement never can be made 
lasting ; appeal to mere feeling cannot be long continued 5 
and therefore, both to the reformed and to the public at 
large, sameness became insipid, and at last burdensome. 

In many instances the reformed men restricted their 
membership, and especially the management of their affairs, 
to themselves. It was unwise, as the bar-room is not &T 
suitable school for business of any kind, and is especially 
defective in fitting men for wise and orderly management 
of organizations. In very many cases these managers re-~ - 
pelled all advice offered by those who w^ere w 7 ise in such 
matters, and they soon became involved in misunderstand- 
ings which ripened into disorganizing difficulties. They 
could not, or wx>uld not, see, that there was any danger of 
surfeiting the public with personal experiences, and invari- 
ably the public interest reached its limit, and could not by 
a repetition of that which had caused its stagnation, be re- 
vived. It was also true, that although many of the clergy 
heartily sympathized with the movement, some were to be ! 
found in nearly every community, who, in the spirit of the 
Bishop before mentioned, opposed it as fanatical, infidel 
and extreme. An equally direct attack to that made by 
Bp. Hopkins, was made by Rev. Hiram Mattison, of 
TTatertown, N. Y. His argument was — 

11 First — No Christian is at liberty to select or adopt any gen- 
eral system, organization, agencies or means, for the moral ref- 



330 Alcohol in History, 

ormation of mankind, except those prescribed and recognized 
by Jesus Christ. But, 

%i Secondly — Christ has designated his Church as his chosen 
organization ; his Ministers as his chosen ambassadors or pub- 
lic teachers ; and his Gospel as the system of truth and motives 
by which to reform mankind. Kor has he prescribed any other 
means. Therefore, 

"Thirdly — All voluntary organizations and societies, for the 
suppression of particular vices, and the promotion of particular 
virtues, being invented by man without a divine model or com- 
mand, and proceeding upon principles and employing agencies, 
means and motives not recognized in the Gospel, are incompati- 
ble with the plan ordained of Heaven, and consequently super- 
fluous, inexpedient and dangerous." In seeking to support 
this style of argument, he declares (p. 12), that the Temperance 
Reform has not done half the good that has been awarded it, 
but has done infinitely more hurt than good, comparing what is 
professed with what is accomplished, to the reputed and the 
actual effects of quack medicines, a pretended cure-all, but 
really killing ten where they cure one. Elsewhere, he ex- 
presses his opinion that u God has no attributes that can take 
side with the popular moral societies of the age." And again, 
he says ; " but suppose a man is reformed in the popular way ; 
is he any better in the sight of God ? Has that morality which 
has reference solely to one's present interest, or public senti- 
ment, one single element in common with the morality enjoined 
in the Bible ? " * 

It was also true that not a few who had at first favored 
Washingtonianism, unwisely, — though no doubt with great 
honesty,— sought to make it an immediate instrument for 
sectarian propagandism, and repelled and soured those w T ho 
in the first flush of their great victory over the appetite for 
strong drink, were making this the one idea in their efforts 
for others, and who regarded everything else as direct in- 
terference with their work. To add to this tendency, per- 
haps in some instances to originate it, philanthropists in 
other departments of benevolent and humanitarian work, 
some of whom were eminent especially in their labors to 

* "A Tract for the Times ; or the Church, the Ministry and 
the Gospel, the only means for promoting Moral Reformation. 
By H. Mattison, Minister of the M. E. Church. 1844." 



Total Abstinence Societies. 331 

free the American slaves, and who had been made to feel 
that too many pulpits apologized for this iniquity, entered 
into hearty sympathy with the Washingtonian movement, 
and intensified whatever tendency there might have been 
produced by any other cause, to suspicion, jealousy, distrust 
of, if not to open war with, the Churches. 

It is a mistake, however, to suppose, as many have, that, 
as a whole, there was nothing but antagonism between the 
Washingtonians and the Christian Churches. With few/) 
or no exceptions, save, perhaps, on the part of the Episco- 1 
pal Church, the General Conventions of the Protestant \ 
Churches endorsed and encouraged the movement. The-A 
action of the General Conference of the M. E. Church, in 
1844, is a fair index of the feeling and sentiments of all 
the Protestant denominations (except as above noted,) at 
that time : 

"Resolved, That we recommend to all our preachers, both 
travelling and local, and to all our members and friends to give 
to the Temperance Reformation (now in successful operation in 
this and other countries,) their unreserved approval, and ear- 
nest and liberal support." 

It can be said with stronger emphasis, that Washingtoni- 
anism was not an irreligious movement. In most all local- 
ities in the New England states, where the organization was 
probably the most perfect, there was hearty co-operation 
w T ith it by churches of nearly every name. Chaplains were 
appointed who opened each meeting with religious services, 
and not a few of the reformed men identified themselves 
with the churches, some becoming even eminent in the 
ministry. That some coarse, impractical, skeptical men, 
had part in the enterprise, and that in certain localities 
such managed it, repelling others from co-operation with 
them, is no doubt true $ and that local failure and aban- 
donment of the plan is thus to be accounted for, cannot be 
denied; but the general abandonment of this mode of 
operation cannot be so explained. It is to be traced, 
rather, to those general peculiarities of the movement .it self, 



332 Alcohol in History. 

which have been before mentioned. But "Washingtonian- 
ism was not a failure, for it rescued thousands from ruin, 
and opened the way for more advanced thought and effort 
in this great cause. It stopped in its career, simply because 
it had reached the limit of the exclusive use of the instru- 
r-mentalities which it employed. It was a great misfortune 
i that, as Dr. Jewett, who spoke from personal knowledge, 
said : 

" Some of the most influential of those reformed speakers, in- 
cluding Mitchell, one of the original five, seeing the extensive 
and growing influence of the new method of promoting temper- 
ance, came, honestly, no doubt, to regard all other efforts as 
useless, and did not hesitate so to express themselves. Temper- 
ance sermons, prayers, arguments, and exhortations, which 
w^ere not experiences, were of no account." 

Then again, on the same authority : 

" Some of the most prominent of the new disciples, although 
they advocated total abstinence, held and advocated zealously 
doctrines utterly unsound in many important particulars. 
Mitchell, the leading spirit of the group, held that, as Washing- 
tonians, they should have nothing to say against the traffic or 
the men engaged in it. He would have no pledge even, against 
engaging in the manufacture or traffic in liquors ; nor did he 
counsel reformed men to avoid liquor-sellers 7 society or places of 
business. He would even admit men to membership in his 
societies who were engaged in the traffic, and in my hearing he 
admitted that he had paid for liquor, at the bar, for others to 
drink, after he had signed the pledge. He would not drink 
liquor, but if others chose to, that was their business."* 

While the Waskingtonian movement was in progress, 
the cause of Total Abstinence received a powerful impetus 
from the labors of Dr. Thomas Sewall, of the Columbian 
College, District of Columbia. For upwards of thirty 
years, Dr. Sewall had been engaged in pathological 
researches, during which time he had many opportunities 
of inspecting the stomach of the intemperate after death from 
the various degrees and stages of the use of intoxicants. 
In 1841, he published the " Pathology of Drunkenness/' 

* A Forty Years' Fight with the Drink Demon, pp. 136, 144. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 333 

illustrated by seven drawings of the "human stomach as it 
appeared in various conditions, which he thus described : 

" Plate 1— Represents the internal or mucous coat of the sto- 
mach in a healthy state. It was drawn from one who had lived 
an entirely temperate life, and died under circumstances which 
could not have changed the appearance of the organ after death : 
blood-vessels invisible." 

u Plate 2— Shows the appearance of the stomach of the 
Moderate Drinker — the man who takes his grog daily, but moder- 
ately, or who sips his wine with his meals: — blood vessels 
enlarged so as to be visible, and distended with blood." 

" Plate 3 — Represents theirs* stage in habitual drunkenness, 
or the stomach of the Hard Drinker : — internal coat irritated — 
blood vessels more enlarged." 

" Plate 4 — Represents the stomach of the drunkard after a 
debauch, of several days : — internal coat highly inflamed, red 
and livid." 

" Plate 5 — Represents the drunkard's ulcerated stomach: — 
internal coat corroded." 

" Plate 6 — Represents the appearance of the Cancerous sto- 
mach : — the coats of the organ are thickened and Scirrhus, with 
corroding Cancer of the size represented." 

" Plate 7 — Represents the internal state of the stomach after 
death from Delirium Tremens. The mucous coat is covered by 
a dark brown flaky substance, which being removed, shows the 
organ to have been in a high degree of inflammation before 
death. Tn some points it is quite dark, as if in an incipient 
state of mortification." * 

These drawings were first exhibited to the public, in con- 
nection with a lecture on the subject, at Washington, in 
1842, to an audience of about 3000. They made a great 
impression, especially on the minds of the more cultivated 
people. Their correctness was attested by such eminent 
physicians as Drs. Mott, Warren, Homer, and Green ; and 
many editions of them in enlarged form were published 
and used with great effect by several eminent lecturers on 
temperance. The most intelligent approved of them, and 
desired their more extended use. 

* "Alcohol, What it Is, and What It Does," p. 339, contains 
these plates. 



334 Alcohol in History. 

" General Scott desired that they might be furnished to every 
military post. The Hon. Samuel Young desired that they might 
be hung in every common school in the state. The presidents 
of the Marine Insurance Companies expressed a wish that they 
might be put on board of every vessel on the ocean, on our 
rivers, and on our lakes, counteracting the peculiar temptations 
to which mariners and emigrants were exposed. Testimonials 
from lecturers were often of a most affecting character. ' It is 
very frequently the case/ said one, 'that after all the facts I 
could present, or the appeals I could make, seem to fall power- 
less on the ear of the drunkard, his head up and apparently un- 
moved, when these irictures are shown, his cheeks turn pale 
and his head droops. ' ' I have heard/ said another, ' the un- 
fortunate drunkard exclaim, when looking at them,— and par- 
ticularly at the one representing the stomach after a debauch 
— i they loolc as I have often felt ! ' — Missionaries in foreign lands, 
at Constantinople and other places, were found to be exhibiting 
the plates with great effect." * 

Shortly after the Washingtonian movement had expend- 
ed its power, viz., in the summer of 1849, Father Mathew 
made a visit to the United States. Administering the 
pledge to about 100,000 in the principal cities of New 
England, he contemplated making an extended tour 
through the United States, but his health failed, and he 
was forced to be quiet. A few societies were founded by 
him while here, at least two of which, one in Philadelphia, 
and one at East Cambridge, Mass., are in existence to-day. 
Quite a number were active in 1860, when a reorganization 
of Total Abstinence work among the Catholics took place, 
of which it may be well to speak here. This new move- 
ment among the Catholics puts the whole superintendence 
of Temperance work in the hands of their clergy. It com- 
menced in Jersey City, New Jersey : and was rapidly for- 
warded in 1867, 1868 and 1869 by the Missionary orders, 
— the Passionists, Jesuits, and Paulists, — who in prosecut- 
ing their mission work, not unfrequently had whole con- 
gregations respond to their invitations to rise and take the 
pledge. By 1870 these local societies began to form dio- 

* Marsh, Autobiography, p. 115. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 335 

cese or State unions, and in 1872 these Unions became a 
national body, bearing the name of the Catholic Total 
Abstinence Union of America. In 1876 there were in this 
national Union 600 societies of over 150,000 members. 
" These comprise only those aggregated, to the Union 5 
of other Catholic total abstinence societies there are proba- 
bly 300 working as local societies. The Catholic women, 
under the lead of Father Bessoines, of Indiana, organized in 
a few localities about 1878. They failed to receive recog- 
nition from the National Union, at first, but in 1880 they 
were heartily recognized and endorsed. We may safely 
estimate the entire number of Catholic total abstinence 
societies in this country at not less than 1,000, having an 
active membership of 200,000 persons." These societies 
erected a Fountain at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, on 
the 4th of July, 1876, at a cost of $60,000.* 

Early in the history of the Total Abstinence Pledge, it 
was judged by many that neither the mere taking of the 
pledge, nor the affiliation of those who signed it with the 
simple and imperfect organizations with which they experi- 
mented in their efforts for concerted action, were sufficient 
for the peculiar needs and exposures of the reformed men. 
It was believed that such could be more perfectly banded 
together and greatly helped in ways for which their first 
organization made no provision, by societies having a wider 
aim, and a more imposing and attractive form of admission, 
and method of operation. Hence the origin of the so-called 
Secret Temperance Societies. 

The first in order of time, were the Rechabites. They 
organized in the town of Salford, county of Lancaster, 
England, in August, 1835, under the name of " The Inde- 
pendent Order of Rechabites," taking their title from the 
ancient people mentioned in Jeremiah xxxv. who put them- 
selves under obligation u to drink no wine forever." Mem- 
bership is strictly confined to total abstainers, and is limited 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 730, 731. 



336 Alcohol in History. 

to male persons of healthy constitution and good moral 
character, from fifteen to fifty years of age. To the active 
members certain pecuniary benefits are secured, while those 
who may not desire such consideration, but are willing to 
give countenance and moral support to the order, become 
honorary members by paying a small annual fee. Origi- 
nally the entrance fee of active members was the same for 
all, irrespective of their age, within the limits before men- 
tioned. Two funds were established and divided into 
shares, each member being at liberty to take from one to 
six shares in the sick fund, and from one to four shares in 
the funeral fund. For every penny per share paid weekly 
into the sick fund, two shillings and sixpence per week are 
received in time of sickness ; and for every five pence per 
share paid quarterly into the funeral fund, five pounds are 
paid at death. Eecently a graduated scale of contribu- 
tions, according to age, has been made for new members, 
which in time will become the more just rule throughout 
the order. 

At an early day, 1842, this order was brought to the 
United States, and for a time extensively flourished, 
numbering at one period not far from 100,000 members. 
At present the membership in this country is from 3,500 to 
4,400. It is now chiefly confined to Great Britain and its 
Possessions and Dependencies. The local organizations are 
called Tents ; several of these united, form a District ; and 
the supreme power of the Order is created by a biennial 
conference of representatives from the various districts. 
The present aggregate of active membership is a little 
more than 30,000, and funds are accumulated to the amount 
of £140,000.* 

The next organization was the result of a consultation 
on the part of a few active Washingtonians in the city of 
New York. They had noticed that although the Wash- 
ingtonian movement was making rapid advance in new 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 865-867. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 337 

fields, there were already many falling away from the 
pledge, and they desired, if possible, to hit upon some new 
plan of operations, some more perfect organization, one 
that should shield the members from temptation, and more 
effectually elevate and guide them. In a short time the 
number of those thus solicitous for a new experiment was 
increased to ten, when it was agreed that a plan of an 
improved organization should be drafted and copies of a 
call for a meeting to consider it, should be distributed 
among forty prominent Washingtonians. The call was 
headed " Sons of Temperance," and invited those to whom 
it was sent,' " to attend a select meeting," on Thursday 
evening, Sept. 29, 1842. It further stated : 

"The object of the meeting is to organize a beneficial society 
based on total abstinence, bearing the above title. It is pro- 
posed to make the initiation fee, at first, $1, and dues 6^ cents 
a week ; in case of sickness a member to be entitled to $4 a 
week, and in case of death $30 to be appropriated for funeral 
expenses." 

In response sixteen person assembled, and after adopt- 
ing and signing the following resolution, approved of the 
Constitution which had been submitted. 

"Resolved, That we now form a society to be called New 
York Division No. 1, Sons of Temperance." 

A second meeting was held on the 7th of October, when 
it was decided to adopt a form of initiation. Officers were 
then elected, and sixteen persons were proposed for mem- 
bership. The pledge then adopted, and unaltered to the 
present, reads : 

" I will neither make, buy, sell, nor use as a beverage, any 
spirituous or malt liquors, wine or cider." 

In November, a circular was prepared for the Tem- 
perance press throughout the country, calling attention to 
the existence of the order, and giving an outline of its 
purposes and plans. 

u The order of the Sons of Temperance," it said, u has three 
distinct objects in view, which are, as declared in the preamble 
22 



338 Alcohol in History. 

of our constitution : ' To shield us from the evils of intemper- 
ance; afford mutual assistance in case of sickness ; and elevate 
our characters as men.' The design contemplates permanent 
systematic organization throughout the United States, divided 
into three classes— viz., Subordinate Divisions, State Divisions, 
and a National Division." 

The New York Grand Division pro tem. y was appointed 
from the members of the Division in New York, with 
power to grant charters. On the following January a 
sufficient number of past officers having been obtained, 
the Grand Division duly organized, taking on itself the 
name of " The Fountain-head of the Sons of Temperance 
of the State of New York." Propagand work soon after 
commenced, and in a few months Divisions had been es- 
tablished in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North 
Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 
July a Quarterly Session of the Grand Division of New 
York was held, and the membership was announced as 
being 1500. Grand Divisions now begun to be chartered, 
and as soon as the number necessary for the purpose had 
been obtained, viz., in June, 1844, the National Division 
was organized. At that time the order was composed of 
7 Grand Divisions, 75 Subordinate Divisions, and 6,000 
members. The Order increased rapidly in membership 
until 1850, when it had 35 Grand Divisions, 5,563 Subor- 
dinates, and 232,233 members. From that time there were 
many fluctuations in the numerical condition of the Order, 
till in 18G4 the membership had fallen to 55,736. The 
rebellion of the Southern States in 1861, and the political 
antagonisms which for several years preceded the conflict 
of arms, had much to do with weakening all philanthropic 
efforts. Since the close of the war the Order has revived. 

In 1876 it had about 2,000 Subordinate Divisions and 
90,000 members in North America ; 600 Divisions and 
35,000 members in Australia ; and several thousand mem- 
bers in Great Britain and Ireland. Originally member- 
ship was restricted to " male persons eighteen years of age 
or over." In 1854, " mothers, wives, sisters, or daughters " 



Total Abstinence Societies. 339 

of members were admitted as visitors ; a rule which was 
soon modified, so that any " female, sixteen years of age 
and upwards," might be so admitted. In 1866, women 
were made eligible to full membership on the same terms 
as men ; but it was left optional with subordinate Divis- 
ions, to accept or reject this privilege. It is now the al- 
most universal policy of the Order to admit women to 
equal rights and benefits. Controversies have also arisen 
in the Order in regard to the admission of colored people. 
The National Division, in 1850, decided on a question of 
appeal from a decision of the Grand Division of Ohio, to 
affirm that decision, and declared that u the admission of 
negroes into Subordinate or Grand Divisions under this 
jurisdiction is improper and illegal." In 1870 it took the 
position indicated in the following resolution : 

" That the M. W. P. be, and is hereby, authorized to organ- 
ize separate Grand Divisions for our colored members, when re- 
quested by them and approved by the Grand Division having 
jurisdiction in the State." 

This position was abandoned the next year, but in 1872, 
all conflicting legislation was repealed, and the action of 
1870 is now the law of the order.* 

An organization called H The Daughters of Temper- 
ance," was founded in the city of New York, in October, 
1843. They were incited to and helped in their work, by 
a number of the Sons, with a view of doing among women 
what that organization was doing among men. In a short 
time, by reason of some misunderstanding, a division was 
made in this fraternity, and a second organization was form- 
ed, taking the name of the il Original Daughters." They 
called their societies " Unions," and having spread quite 
extensively in the United States, they formed, by means 
of their representatives from the single Unions, u Grand 

* The above facts are gleaned from an article by Frederick 
A. Fickart, M. W. S., in "The Sons of Temperance Offering for 
1851 ; " and the Historical Sketch by Samuel W. Hodges, M. 
W. S., in the Centennial Temperance Volume. 



340 Alcohol in History. 

Unions," in several States. The organization was not 
long-lived, and on the admission of women to full rights 
and privileges in the Sons of Temperance, the main reason 
for its continuance ceased to exist.* 

u The Juvenile Sons of Temperance/' originated in 
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in May, 1845, an example 
that was soon after imitated in Bethlehem, in the same 
State. Later, — in December, 1846, — an effort was made 
to effect a more general organization for boys, in the city 
of Philadelphia. They were brought together in what was 
called a " Section of the Cadets of Temperance," and 
became partly under the control of the Sons of Temper- 
ance, and auxiliary to them. In two years they had spread 
into twenty-two States, numbering in all, one hundred and 
thirty sections. t 

" The Juvenile Sisters of Temperance/ 7 an organization 
of young girls, was established in 1846. How long it 
existed, we have no means at hand of knowing j but pro- 
bably it had a brief life. 

The " Cadets of Temperance," an organization for boys, 
was started in Germantown, Pa., in 1846, by earnest 
workers in the order of The Sons of Temperance. For 
some time past the organization has been, as to its oversight 
and patronage, a mixed body, some being under the " Sons," 
some, as the " Cadets of Temperance and Honor," under 
the " Temple of Honor," and some, Independent. Sta- 
tistics are not easily obtained, but it is estimated that their 
number in the United States is about 10,000, about a fourth, 
part being under the u Sons," a smaller fraction under the 
u Temple of Honor," and the balance Independent. 

The Temple of Honor was originated by prominent and 
active members of the Sons of Temperance, with a view to 
supplying a popular need not provided for by the Sons. 
These were chiefly, a more elaborate and finished ritual, 

* "The Beauties of Temperance." By Rev. E. Francis, 1847, 
p. 64. 

j Ibid, p. 58-62. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 341 

such as would give the reformed man so much satisfaction 
as would prevent his seeking fraternal relations with organ- 
izations possessing attractive ceremonials, but not in their 
principles or practices favorable to the maintenance of his 
integrity as a total abstainer. After many unsuccessful 
attempts to induce the National Division of the Sons of 
Temperance to adopt degrees, signs, and other peculiar 
methods of working, employed by the older so-called Secret 
Societies, it was determined by a few who believed that 
such an advance would be of service to the Temperance 
cause, to test its worth. In June, 1845, they organized a 
Society called the u Marshall Temperance Fraternity/ 7 
which in November, they changed to " Marshall Temple, 
No. 1, Sons of Honor/ 7 and again changed in December, 
to " Marshall Temple of Honor, No. 1, Sons of Temper- 
ance. 77 Their membership then numbered forty-five. Be- 
fore the last of February, 1846, they had instituted eleven 
Temples in New York City, and one each, in New Jersey, 
Maryland and Massachusetts. The twelve Temples in 
New York City, by representatives, met on the 21st of 
February, and created the " Grand Temple of Honor of 
the State of New York/ 7 which they resolved, " Shall be 
the supreme power of the Order till the National Division 
shall take upon themselves that power. 77 After several 
unsuccessful efforts to induce the National Division to give 
official recognition to the new order, it was determined in 
1849, at a session of the National Temple, which had been 
organized in 1846, to "make the Temple of Honor an en- 
tirely independent organization. 77 At the same session it 
was voted to prepare a new degree, to be called the " Social 
Degree/ 7 to which the wives, sisters and daughters of 
Templars, should be eligible. In 1850 the privileges of 
this degree were extended to " all ladies of good stand- 
ing ; 77 in 1855 the name of the Social Degree was changed 
to "Social Temple. 77 In 1852, as the order had spread 
beyond the limits of the United States, the name of the 
highest power in the order was changed to " Supreme 



342 Alcohol in History. 

Council of Templars of Honor and Temperance." At the 
completion of ten years in the history of the order, there 
were 20 Grand Temples, and a membership of 12,980. The 
twentieth year closed just after the end of the rebellion, 
which had been disastrous to this as to all other Temper- 
ance organizations : and the membership was 10,530. At 
the thirtieth annual session of the Supreme Temple, in 
1876, there were 21 Grand Temples, 357 Subordinate 
Temples, and a total membership of 16,229. The entire 
receipts that year were $74,262.59; amount paid for bene- 
fits, $7,856.17; cash on hand in Subordinate Temples, 
$101,746.16.* 

A " Band of Hope," an organization for children, was 
first formed in Leeds, England, in 1847. The name being 
attractive, societies soon rapidly increased. The United 
Kingdom Band of Hope Union was formed in 1855, for the 
purpose of promoting total abstinence among the young by 
means of this organization and such other means as may 
from time to time be available. It is computed that at 
the present time there are in the United Kingdom, about 
6,000 Bands of Hope, with 810,000 members, and 35,000 
adults as officers, members of committees, and workers in 
the movement ; of whom 7,000 are honorary speakers. 
Children of both sexes, seven years old and upwards, may 
become members. t There are Bands of Hope in America, 
but no statistics concerning them are available. 

The " Independent Order of Good Samaritans," and 
" Daughters of Samaria," was organized in the city of New 
York, in February, 1847. Originally intended for wdiite 
men, it took its first advanced step during the first year of 
its existence by opening its doors to colored people, grant- 
ing them equal rights and privileges with all others ; and 
in 1848, admitted women to full membership and privileges. 
It is a beneficial society ; and is persistent in its efforts to 
reclaim the inebriate, however often he may fall from his 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 625-651. 
t Ibid, pp. 858, 863. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 343 

promise to abstain. It lias seen prosperous days, when its 
numerical strength was satisfactory to its most ardent mem- 
bers, and it lias been again and again brought low. Its 
organization is into Lodges, Grand Lodges, and a Supreme 
body called the National Grand Lodge ; but the latter has 
no definite bounds, but extends its jurisdiction wherever 
the order exists. Its colored members prefer to keep by 
themselves in their Subordinate and Grand bodies, but unite 
with all the others in the Supreme Lodge. It has organi- 
zations in many of the States of the American Union, and 
in Africa. Its present membership is about 14,000. It 
has also a Juvenile Branch, numbering nearly as many in 
its membership as the adult.* 

H The Good Templars," originated in central New York, 
in 1851. For the first ten years their growth was not 
rapid, although they extended over quite a large territory. 
Their membership increased to about 75,000. After the 
close of the war, in 1865, the order spread rapidly in all 
the States, and in 1868 numbered about 400,000 members. 
It was then introduced into various parts of Great Britain, 
and from thence to Australia, India, China, Japan, Africa, 
and other foreign countries. Its largest membership was 
in 1875, when it reached 735,000. In 1876, a portion of 
the foreign membership seceded ; but a conference held in 
September, 1886, agreed on a basis of reunion, honorable 
to all concerned, -which will probably be ratified at the 
coming annual session of the two bodies in May, 1887. In 
that event the entire membership will be about 620,000: 
The Good Templars claim the following as the peculiarities 
of their organization and purpose : The equality of woman 
in all the w T ork and honors of the order ; no discrimination 
as to race or nationality ; the total abstinence pledge bind- 
ing during life ; the prohibition of the traffic in intoxicants ; 
the reform of inebriates, and the protection of the young from 
falling into the snares of temptation ; a perfect and equit- 

* Ibid, pp. 734-737. 



344 Alcohol in History. 

able svstem of finance, by means of which all subordinate 
lodges may be self-sustaining, and may support the State 
Grand Lodges, and these in turn support the Right Worthy 
Grand Lodge, the Supreme Head of the Order. The fol- 
lowing is the Platform of the Order: 

"1. Total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as a bev- 
erage. 

" 2. No license, in any form, or under any circumstances, for 
the sale of such liquors to be used as a beverage. 

"3. The absolute prohibition of the manufacture, importa- 
tion, and sale of all intoxicating liquors for such purposes — 
prohibition by the will of the people, expressed in due form of 
law, with the penalties deserved for a crime of such enormity. 

4 < 4. The creation of a healthy public opinion upon the subject 
by the active dissemination of truth in all the modes known to 
an enlightened philanthropy. 

"5. The election of good, honest men to administer the laws. 

i ' 6. Persistence in efforts to save individuals and communities 
from so direful a scourge, against all forms of opposition and 
difficulty, until our success is complete and universal." 

Although all lodges are allowed to admit to membership 
all persons of twelve years old, and upwards, some have 
always desired an organization under the auspices of the 
Good Templars, which would receive younger persons to 
membership, and train them from their earliest years in the 
principles of total abstinence. To meet this need, an or- 
ganization called the " Juvenile Templars," was established 
some years ago. It is now established in 68 States and 
countries. Full statistics have not been obtained, but the 
recent Reports from 35 jurisdictions, show a total of 478 
Temples, and 28,094 members. The pledge of the organ- 
ization contains obligations against the use of all intoxicat- 
ing liquors, tobacco and profanity. These Temples are 
managed in very much the same manner as are the British 
Bands of Hope. 

" The British American Order of Good Templars," was 
an offshoot from the Canadian Grand Lodge of Good Tem- 
plars, in 1858. In 1866 the name was changed by drop- 
ping the word American, in order that the operations of the 



Total Abstinence Societies. 345 

fraternity might be extended beyond the provinces. It 
then extended to Newfoundland, Bermuda and New Zea- 
land, and subsequently to Great Britain, Australia, Queens- 
land, Tasmania and Manitoba. In 1876 it consolidated 
with the Free Templars of St. John, in Scotland 5 the In- 
dependent Order of Free Templars in England 5 and the 
United Templar Order in Great Britain and Ireland and 
South Africa, and formed the u United Temperance Asso- 
ciation." Its membership is unknown to the writer.* 

" The Dashaways," so called from the resolution of 
their founders to dash away the intoxicating bowl, were 
organized in San Francisco, Oal., in January, 1859. They 
spread rapidly through California and Oregon, but we have 
no information of their present condition and numbers. 

The same must also be said of an organization formed 
in Chicago, Illinois, in 1860, and called " The Temperance 
Flying Artillery." u Its members were chiefly young 
men, whose ardor and activity soon organized bands in 
almost every town and city in Illinois." 

u The Friends of Temperance," an organization for 
white persons only, was organized in Petersburgh, Virginia, 
in November, 1865. It has since spread into eleven 
States, and has about 20,000 members. 

u The Sons of the Soil," an organization for colored per- 
sons only, was organized in Virginia, in 1865. It has a 
large membership. 

" The Vanguard of Freedom," an organization for the 
children of the Freedmen in the South, was organized in 
1868, and has spread into nearly every Southern State. 

There is also an organization, chiefly, if not exclusively 
operating in the Southern States, called the Knights of 
Jericho, but we fail to get statistical information in regard 
to it. 

The u Sons of Jonadab " was instituted at Washington 
D. C, in 1867. It is chiefly distinguished from the before 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 782-785. 



346 Alcohol in History. 

mentioned Orders, in punishing all violations of its total 
abstinence pledge by expulsion for life. It numbers about 
3,000 members. 

u The Royal Templars of Temperance " was, for nearly 
seven years, a local organization in the city of Buffalo, N. 
Y., originally formed for the purpose of enforcing the law 
against the sale of intoxicants on the Lord ; s Day. In 
1877, it reorganized, adding a beneficiary fund for the ben- 
efit of its members. Up to the present time its field of op- 
erations is on the American Continent. It has 533«6elect 
Councils, and a membership of about 20,000. Its aim is 
to promote " the cause of temperance, morally, socially, re- 
ligiously and politically. 

" The United Friends of Temperance/ 7 was organized 
at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in November, 1871. It is 
composed exclusively of white persons. 

u The United Order of True Reformers," was introduced 
into the Southern States in 1872, for the benefit of the 
colored people. It numbered at one time about 45,000 
members. Many of its members are now enrolled with 
the Good Templars, and the original organization has 
about 10,000 members. 

Side by side with the earliest of these secret organiza- 
tions, the American Temperance Union continued its work 
for several years, planting and encouraging State societies 
and other local associations, publishing and distributing 
valuable temperance literature, and in various ways keep- 
ing the temperance sentiment alive and active throughout 
the country. The corresponding Secretary, Rev. John 
Marsh, said in the Appendix to his " Half Century Tri- 
bute/ 7 in 1851, that the Society had at that time distributed 
4,964,733 copies of books, and tracts, beside hundreds of 
thousands of Journals and papers. Several States ap- 
proved of placing in District School Libraries the volumes 
of Permanent Temperance Documents, made up of Ad- 
dresses, Statistics and Reports of the various societies, and 
thus millions of the people were instructed in right views 



Total Abstinence Societies. 347 

of the enormity of the evils of Intemperance. Political 
views of the duties of Temperance men were also ad- 
vanced through the nation, and made themselves felt in 
securing more thorough and radical laws on the subject in 
several States. 

But as early as 1854, the efforts of northern men for this 
cause, became wholly inoperative in the southern sections 
of the country ; and shortly after this the political excite- 
ment arising from the growing prominence of the slavery 
question, absorbed attention at the north, and pushed all 
Temperance enterprise to one side. The rebellion follow- 
ing on, very little was done, though the organization con- 
tinued to hold its annual meetings, till the w^ar ceased. 

In August, 1865, a Fifth National Convention w r as held 
at Saratoga Springs. Twenty States and the Canadas 
were represented by 326 delegates. Several able papers 
on various phases of the Temperance Reform were read, 
and as a result of the discussions and deliberations, it was 
determined to make a new departure in the cause, suited to 
the new condition of the country at large $ one that should 
secure co-operation on the part of the various open and 
secret organizations 5 enlist the sympathies and efforts of 
Sunday-schools and churches j and combine, as far as pos- 
sible, the many moral instrumentalities throughout the 
nation and the continent, with the political discussion of 
the subject, and with wise municipal and legislative action. 
To this end committees were appointed, one to organize a 
new National Temperance Society, and the other to pro- 
vide for and locate a National Publication House 5 and each 
State was requested to organize a State Society, on the 
broad platform which was to distinguish the National 
Society, and to become so in harmony with and auxiliary 
to it, as to have a true union of purpose, and concentration 
of effort in the all-important cause. At the first meeting 
of the two committees, assembled at the same time, under 
power conferred, it was deemed wisest to attempt but one 
organization, and the two were merged into one committee, 



348 Alcohol in History. 

and acted together in their deliberations, which, in October, 
1805, resulted in the organization of a The National Tem- 
perance Society and Publication House/ 7 with the follow- 
ing object and pledge : 

" The object shall be to promote the cause of total abstinence 
from the use, manufacture, and sale of all intoxicating drinks 
as a beverage. This shall be done by the publication and cir- 
culation of temperance literature, by the use of the pledge, and 
by all other methods calculated to remove the evil from the 
community. — Ko person shall be a member of this society, 
who does not subscribe to the following pledge, — namely : We, 
the undersigned, do agree that we will not use intoxicating 
liquors as a beverage, nor traffic in them ; that we will not pro- 
vide them as an article of entertainment or for persons in our 
employment ; and that in all suitable ways we will discounte- 
nance their use throughout the country." 

Shortly after this organization had been perfected, the 
Executive Committee of the American Temperance Union, 
passed the following: "Resolved, That the work of the 
Union be suspended after the 1st of December, 1865, and 
that its periodicals, documents, tracts, stereotype plates, 
and good will be transferred to the National Temperance 
Society and Publication House." 

The Twentieth Annual Report of this organization, made 
in June, 1885, gives a brief statement of various branches 
of its work since the society was created. $105,719 have 
been spent in copyrights, stereotyping and engraving its 
many valuable standard publications, now numbering 1,383 
books, tracts and pamphlets ; including 138 carefully 
selected books for Sunday-school libraries. It publishes 
The Youth's Temperance Banner, having a monthly circula- 
tion of 116,000 copies, and a total of 27,640,000 copies 
since the publication first commenced. It also publishes 
The National Temperance Advocate, monthly, containing the 
latest information of the state of the cause throughout the 
world, and replete with facts and arguments arranged and 
presented by the ablest writers. The total number of 
copies of this journal issued to May, 1885, is 2,085,695. 



Total Abstinence Societies. 349 

The assets of the Society are now $34,000, and its sales of 
publications amounted, in 1885, to over $51,500. It is in 
hearty accord with, and enjoys the confidence of, the various 
Temperance Organizations in the land, and does a work of 
far-reaching and incalculable importance and influence. 

Passing by the almost innumerable local Societies which 
have from time to time sprung up in various parts of the 
United States, some of them merely experimental and short- 
lived, and many still in existence and prosperous in States, 
Counties and Districts, there are a few of more extended 
purpose and influence which should be mentioned here. 

The first is the so-called Reform Club movement. 
This originated with Mr. J. K. Osgood, a reformed man 
of Gardiner, Maine, in 1872. The first Club numbered 
about 100 members, all reformed men. In a few months 
the movement became popular throughout the State, Clubs 
were rapidly organized, and in a year they had a member- 
ship of from 15,000 to 20,000. From Maine the reform 
spread to New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. 
Women are admitted to membership on equal terms with 
men, and the platform of principles and methods, embraces 
these : first, total abstinence ; second, reliance on God's 
help in all things ; and third, missionary work to induce 
others to sign the pledge. 

In 1874, Mr. Francis Murphy entered the field, confining 
his operations chiefly to the Western States, though doing 
much in Pennsylvania j he has been instrumental in in- 
ducing tens of thousands to sign the pledge, and to organ- 
ize themselves into Reform Clubs. 

Dr. Henry A. Reynolds also commenced the same work 
in 1874, at Bangor, Maine, where he organized a Club com- 
posed wholly of men who had been intemperate to a greater 
or less extent. In a year he had organized many such 
Clubs throughout the State. His labors were then exten- 
ded to Massachusetts and other New England States, and 
subsequently to the West. Great success in organizing 
attended his labors. 



350 Alcohol in History. 

The Women's Wokk. — In December, 1873, the 
women of a small town in Southern Ohio, organized them- 
selves into a Praying Band, for the purpose of inducing the 
keepers of saloons, and other drinking places, who seemed 
to be beyond the reach of the imperfect law of that State, 
to give up the sale of intoxicants. Their mode of operation 
was to visit such drinking places as they could obtain 
access to, and there pray and sing. If the doors were 
closed against them they knelt on the sidewalks ; and were 
so persistent in their efforts, that the liquor sellers aban- 
doned their business, signed the pledge, and in many cases, 
became Temperance Missionaries. Their example and its 
success, was soon imitated in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, 
Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, California, Oregon, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. It has 
crossed the Atlantic, and been a power in England, Scot- 
land, India, Japan and China. 

In the spring of 1874, the women who had been H Cru- 
sading," as they called it, all winter, called conventions in 
their respective States, for the purpose of organizing for 
systematic work. At first they called their new Societies, 
u State Temperance Leagues" Soon, however, they 
changed the name to " Unions." A National meeting, at- 
tended by delegates from sixteen States, w r as held in Cleve- 
land, Ohio, in November, 1874, at which time they took to 
themselves the name of the " Woman's National Christian 
Union," perfected plans of organization intended to reach 
every hamlet, town and city in the land, and issued ad- 
dresses to the women of the country, the girls of America, 
and to women across the sea. Duriug the first year of this 
organized life they added six State organizations to their 
numbers, and established a monthly paper, the " Woman's 
Temperance Union." Messrs. Osgood, Murphy and Rey- 
nolds have been employed by them in several States, and 
their work is prosecuted with great wisdom and zeal.* 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 716-768 j 687-704. 



Coffee Houses. 351 

Growing out of the Woman's Crusade, was a general 
awakening of the Churches to a clearer apprehension of 
their duty, and a deeper sense of responsibility on this 
great subject. In May, 1871, representatives from several 
denominations in various parts of the country, assembled 
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and organized the " National 
Christian Temperance Alliance. 77 Its object is, " To bring 
the influence of the whole Christian Church and all friends 
of humanity to bear directly and steadily against every 
part of this i vile liquor system, 7 until the principles cf total 
abstinence and prohibition shall universally prevail. 77 In 
accomplishing this, it aims, " not to effect an organization 
outside and independent of the Church of Christ, but to 
organize and unite the Churches themselves in aggressive 
temperance work. 77 * The latest reports, confessedly in- 
complete, show a membership, in 1885, of 70,360. 

In Great Britain the work is carried on by ten ^National 
Total Abstinence Associations, and a great number of 
District Unions ; by ten Religious Temperance Organiza- 
tions j two Medical Associations ; six Associations seeking 
to Advance the Cause by Legislative Action j three Tem- 
perance Insurance and Benefit Societies 5 and three Socie- 
ties for Providing Substitutes for Drinking Houses and 
Indulgences, t 

V. Coffee Houses. — One other agency, suggested by 
this last mentioned effort, is worthy of separate notice, since 
it has been employed in many countries, and with uniformly 
good results. Coffee-houses, Friendly Inns, Holly Tree 
Inns, all uniform in their purpose to provide cheap, attrac- 
tive and wholesome restaurants, where all classes, and par- 
ticularly reformed men, can resort without being tempted 
by intoxicants, have been established as aids to the tem- 
perance work. 

The first coffee-house of which we have any knowledge, 
was opened in Paris, in 1613, not in the interest of the 

* Ibid, p. 750. f Ibid, pp. 807, 8J8. 



352 Alcohol in History. 

temperance cause, but as a novelty and an addition to the 
attractions furnished by other drinks. The first coffee- 
house in England, was at Oxford, opened by a Jew, in 
1G50. Two years later one was opened in London. For 
a long time there was a great prejudice against the use of 
coffee, and its odor was said to be a nuisance and un- 
wholesome. A duty of 4d. was in 1G60, laid on every 
gallon made and sold, and in 1663 it w T as directed by law 
that all coffee-houses should be licensed. In a broadside 
against coffee, published in 1652, it is said : " To cure 
drunkards it has got great fame." * Coffee-houses were 
opened in Vienna in 1683, in Augsburg in 1712, and in 
Stuttgart in 1713. Buxton, in his " How to Stop Drunken- 
ness/ 7 says that there are at present "1400 coffee-houses in 
London." Of these, a late number of the " Leeds Mer- 
cury " says that " twenty-three are operated by The Lon- 
don Coffee Tavern Company. They are frequented by 
14,000 to 15,000 customers per day, or upwards of 5,000,- 
000 per annum. The statistics for one week — the first in 
December last year — were 78,104 cups of coffee, tea, or 
cocoa, 3,256 pounds of meat, 5,656 basins of soup, and 
10,153 loaves of bread." 

In the United States, a nearly simultaneous effort for 
their establishment was made in 1874, wherever the 
Woman's Crusade extended its work. In the cities of 
Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, 
particularly in the last named, they have been successful. 
In Philadelphia there are two large establishments, at one 
of which 2,600 persons, and at the other 1,400 lunch daily. 
They are located on the chief business thoroughfares, are 
furnished with good and wholesome food, at a low price, 
and are attractively fitted up. " Quite a variety of nutri- 
tious and substantial dishes are provided, and each at the 
uniform price of five cents. The main feature — the coffee- — 
is, however, preserved. A full pint mug of the best Java 

* Club Life of London, by John Timbs, Yol. II. p. 1, 4, 15. 



Education. 353 

(equal to two ordinary cups), with pure rich milk and white 
sugar, and two ounces of either wheat or brown bread, 
all for five cents, is the everyday lunch of many a man 
who, but for this provision, would be found at the dram- 
shop." * 

VI. Ixebriate Asylums. — Impressed with the con- 
viction that drunkenness is often a disease, and is therefore 
to be treated from a physiological standpoint, — for reasons 
which will be obvious to those consulting pages 247-258, — 
" Asylums for the Cure of Inebriates" have been estab- 
lished in several States ; but notwithstanding the good 
which they have accomplished in many cases, the experi- 
ments have been sadly interfered with and in many instances 
have ceased. The several asylums have been crippled, 
and in many cases have failed, says Dr. Willard Parker, in 
a letter to the writer, " Not because they had not true merit, 
nor because the idea upon which they were founded was 
unsound or untenable, but because the manufacturers, 
venders, and consumers of liquor were arrayed against them 
as a part of a Temperance Movement. All these were 
sustained by venal politicians, in their opposition ; hence it 
w T as impossible from the want of effective legislation to con- 
trol the inebriate, and shut him off from spirits absolutely. 
The asylum established by this City's Commissioners was 
a failure. It was opposed by a large class of voters, and 
the inmates could procure, and were gladly helped to liquors, 
to bring reproach upon the humane purpose." 

VII. Education. — As a preventive measure, one of the 
wisest and most hopeful instrumentalities now being em- 
ployed, is the education of the young in the Public Schools, 
Academies and Colleges, in the Nature and Effects of 
Alcoholic Beverages. Drs. Lees and Richardson, of 
England, have each prepared books for this purpose. The 
one, the " Text-Book of Temperance," the other, " The 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 303, 304. 
23 



354 Alcohol in History. 

Temperance Lesson Book ; " and " The National Tempe- 
rance Society and Publication House/' Las published 
a " Catechism on Alcohol," " Juvenile Temperance 
Manual/ 7 "The Temperance School/ 7 and u Alcohol and 
Hygiene/ 7 each prepared by Julia Colman. The necessity 
for such instruction is obvious, and its results in the hands 
of faithful teachers must be far-reaching and salutary. 
Already some of these books are used in Public Schools in 
various parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa- 
chusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
and perhaps other States. How far these or kindred text- 
books, or special instructions of any kind, on this subject, 
are employed in the old world, the writer is not informed. 
The following, from an address by Ex-bailie Lewis, of 
Edinburgh, given during the year 1879, shows that some 
attention is given to the subject in the schools of Sweden : 

" In visiting the Swedish public schools, I was particularly 
struck with the thorough manner in which physiology, vras 
taught to the children. I recollect going into one school in 
Gothenburg, where there was a large number of scholars, and 
the teacher said he would put any question to the scholars I 
wished ; and I pointed to a large physiological map, and asked 
the teacher to put a few questions in regard to that map, and in 
reply to the questions a young lad told correctly how butcher 
meat and potatoes built up the physical system. I then put 
the question, 'In what manner does brandevine or brandy 
build up the human system ? ' and the young boy, with a look 
of contempt at my ignorance, answered with a kind of smile, 
i Brandy does not build up— it pulls down./ So that you see 
we are much behind the educational authorities in Sweden." 

VIII. Licexse Laws. — Law has in various ways inter- 
posed its authority to arrest the evil of intemperance. At 
first it attempted to restrain by regulating the places and 
the amount of sales. Nearly four hundred years ago, 
(1495,) sureties were taken of alehouse-keepers, in England, 
against the improper sale of intoxicants. Prior to this the 
traffic was in no way interfered with, except by laws which 
looked to the avoidance of adulterations and short meas- 



License Laws. 355 

tires. It was in this respect treated as ordinary articles of 
commerce were looked after, everything being in a sense 
subject to the crown, and yielding a revenue thereto. But 
at the date above given it was looked upon as a vicious busi- 
ness ) and in this light it has been regarded by all subse- 
quent legislation and dealt with as an exceptional and 
dangerous trade. It was obvious that it led to immorality 
and to pauperism, for its second mention in law is in "an 
Acte against vacabounds and beggars/' passed in 1504, 
wherein Justices of the Peace were authorized to reject and 
put away common ale selling in towns and places where 
they shall think convenient, and to take sureties of the 
keepers of ale houses, of their good behavior." In 1552 
we meet with the first attempt to put a price on the license 
for the privilege of selling, in " An Acte for Kepers of 
Alehouses to be bounde by Recognizaunces." It is pre- 
faced with a declaration that the reasons which lead to its 
enactment are : " Forasmuch as intolerable hurts and 
troubles to the Common Wealth of this Eealm doth daily 
grow and increase through such abuses and disorders as are 
had and used in common Alehouses and other houses called 
Tippling-houses." Full power to determine how many 
such houses should be allowed in the cities, towns and 
shires, was given to the magistrates. They had absolute 
control of the trade, except in places where fairs were be- 
ing held, then all were free to sell who might desire, but 
at other times only those who were licensed and entered 
into bonds " to maintain good order in their houses " could 
sell. For this privilege they " shall pay but twelve 
pence." The fine for every offence against their bond was 
put " at twenty shillings." 

In 1553, another excise law was passed, the object of 
which was declared to be : 

11 For the avoiding of many inconveniences, muck evil rule, 
and common resort of misruled persons used and frequented 
in many taverns of late, newly set up in very great number in 
back lanes, corners and suspicious places within the city of 



356 Alcohol in History. 

London, and in divers other towns and villages within this 
Realm." 

Under this law none could sell " wine by retail, except 
by the license of the corporate Magistrates or the Justices 
of the Peace at the general sessions ; n and except in Lon- 
don these authorities u could only allot two taverns to one 
town." This limitation was demanded wholly on account 
of the fact that the taverns had become mere resorts for 
chinking and the necessarily accompanying licentiousness 
and riot ; a great perversion from their original intent, as 
is manifest in an Act passed in the reign of James II. , 
which recites that: 

" The ancient, true, and principal use of ale-houses was for 
the lodging of wayfaring people, and for the supply of the 
wants of such as are not able, by greater quantities to make 
their provisions of victuals, and not for entertainment and har- 
boring of lewd and idle people, to spend their money and 
their time in a lewd and drunken manner." 

It would seem that various degrees of zeal and wisdom, 
or the want of it, characterized the Justices to whom the 
workings of the license law were committed, for it is re- 
corded that : 

"Lord-keeper Egerton, in his charge to the Judges when 
going on circuit in 1602, instructed them to ascertain for the 
Queen's information ( how many ale-houses the justices of the 
peace had pulled down, so that the good justices might be re- 
warded, and the evil removed/ n 

In almost every subsequent reign laws further regulating 
the sale of intoxicants were passed, some for limiting the 
traffic, and one or two for encouraging it; bat all the 
former, without exception, were based on the ground that 
for the benefit of the people at large, some restrictions were 
necessary. Said the Lord-keeper : 

"I account ale-houses and tippling-houses the greatest pests 
in the kingdom. I give it you in charge to take a course that 
none be permitted unless they be licensed ; and for the licensed 
ale-houses let them be few, and in lit places ; if they be in pri- 



License Laws. 357 

vate corners and ill-places, they become the den of thieves — 
they are the public stages of drunkenness and disorder." 

In 1G06 , a new enactment, with, more stringent provis- 
ions for regulating the traffic, was created, the grounds for 
it being as stated in the law, that : 

" The loathsome and odious sin of drunkenness had of late 
grown into common use within this realm ; being the root and 
foundation of many other enormous sins, as bloodshed, stabbing, 
murder, swearing, fornication, adultery, and such like; to the 
great dishonor of God and of our nation ; the overthrow of many 
good arts and manual trades ; the disabling of divers workmen 
and the general impoverishing of many good subjects : abus- 
ively wasting the good creatures of God." 

A few years later, as little benefit resulted from this 
law, owing to the various ways of evading it, it was 
amended so as "to put it within the power of a justice of 
the peace to convict upon the oath of one witness, or upon 
his own personal observation. 77 

But in spite of all regulations and restrictions the 
traffic increased ; the stronger intoxicants crowded the lighter 
drinks aside, until, in 1736, there were over 7,000 houses 
in London ; an average of one house to every seven in the 
place, where gin could be obtained at the lowest prices : 
(as has been already related in the previous chapter;) 
besides a large number of places where only fermented 
liquors could be obtained. To remedy this evil, Parliament 
passed the following Act: 

"Whereas the excessive drinking of spirituous liquors by the 
common people tends not only to the destruction of their health 
and the debauchiug of their morals, but to the public ruin ; n 

" For remedy thereof — 

"Be it enacted, that from December 29th no person shall 
presume, by themselves or any others employed by them, to sell 
or retail any brandy, rum, arrack, usquebaugh, geneva, aqua 
vitse, or any other distilled spirituous liquors, mixed or un- 
mixed, in any less quantity than two gallons, without first tak- 
ing out a license for that purpose within ten days at least before 
they sell or retail the same ; for which they shall pay down £50, 
to be renewed ten days before the year expires, paying the like 



358. Alcohol in History. 

sum, and in case of neglect to forfeit £100 ; such licenses to be 
taken out within the limits of the penny post at the chief 
office of excise, London, and at the next office of excise for the 
country. And be it enacted that for all such spirituous liquors 
as any retailers shall be possessed of on or after September 29th, 
1736, there shall be paid a duty of 20s. per gallon, and so in pro- 
portion for a greater or lesser quantity, above all other duties 
charged on the same." 

This law, known in history as the famous Gin Law, 
continued on the statute books for eight years, encountering 
great opposition to its enforcement, and finally becoming 
a dead letter. Many reasons might no doubt be stated as 
accounting for this j but it is very certain that, like the old 
moderation pledge, a large defect was found in its discrim- 
ination against intoxicants of a particular grade ; while it 
allowed, if it did not encourage, the use of others which 
experience, and even previous legislation, had shown to be 
equally pernicious in their results. Certain it is that the 
law of 1753, entitled an " Act for regulating the number 
of public houses, and the more easy conviction of persons 
selling ale and strong liquors without a license/ 7 was an 
abandonment of such discrimination. This law was in 
force until 1828, when it gave way to one more elaborate, 
and containing what were supposed to be more stringent 
regulations. 

In 1830, England entered on a new experiment, by 
means of which it hoped to diminish intemperance. 
Licenses, though continued on the sales of distilled spirits, 
were wdiolly removed from beer, and free beer shops were 
permitted without limit. 

"The idea entertained at that time," says the London Times, 
" was that free trade in beer would gradually wean men from the 
temptations of the regular tavern, would promote the consump- 
tion of a wholesome national beverage in place of ardent spirits, 
would break down the monopoly of the old license-houses, and 
impart, in short, a better character to the whole trade ! . . . . 
The results of this experiment did not confirm the expectations 
of its promoters. The sale of beer was increased ; but the sale 
of spirituous liquors was not diminished." It had been in 



License Laws. 359 

operation but a few weeks, when Sidney Smith wrote: "The 
new beer-bill has begun its operations. Everybody is drunk. 
Those who are not singing are sprawling. The sovereign x>eo- 
ple are in a beastly state." 

In one year the number of beer shops increased 30,000, 
without any diminution of the spirit stores. In a short 
time the quantity of distilled liquors consumed was much 
larger than the gain in the consumption of beer. The 
official reports to parliament show that : 

u During the ten years preceding the passage of the Beer- 
house Act, the quantity of malt used for brewing was 268,139,- 
389 bushels ; during the ten years immediately succeeding the 
quantity was 344,143,550 bushels, showing an increase of 28 
per cent. During the ten years 1821-1830 the quantity of 
British spirits consumed was 57,970,963 gallons, and during 
the next ten years it rose to 76,797,365 gallons — an increase of 
32 per cent." 

'• The licenses for the sale of spirits — of which in 1830, 48,904 
were granted — numbered in 1833, 50,828; being an increase of 
1924. In Sheffield 300 beer-shops were added to the old com- 
plement of public-houses ; and it is a striking fact that before 
the second year had transpired, uot less than 110 of the keepers 
of these houses had applied for spirit licenses, to satisfy the de- 
sire for ardent spirits." 

There could be no more startling demonstration of the 
folly on which the Beer Act was based, — the expectation 
that H free beer," would diminish the demand for ardent 
spirits. Concerning these beer houses, Lord Brougham 
said, in 1839, in the House of Lords : 

" To what good was it that the legislature should pass laws 
to punish crime, or that their Lordships should occupy them- 
selves in finding out modes of improving the morals of the 
people by giving them education ? What could be the use of 
sowing a little seed here and plucking up a weed there, if these 
beer-shops were to be continued that they might go on to sow 
the seeds of immorality broadcast over the land, germinating 
the most frightful produce that ever had been allowed to grow 
up in a civilized country, and, he was ashamed to add, under 
the fostering care of Parliament, and throwing its baleful in- 
fluences over the whole community." 



360 Alcohol in History. 

Subsequent reports made to Parliament, and to various 
Houses of Convocation in the several Ecclesiastical Pro- 
vinces of England, have all shown that uniform testimony 
is borne to the fact that the beer-houses are in themselves 
the sources of poverty, immorality and crime ; that they 
never diminish the demand for ardent spirits, but invariably 
increase that demand.* 

The English Colonists brought the License System with 
them and incorporated it into their Colonial Laws when 
they settled in America. Perhaps the earliest attempt at 
legislation on this subject in this country, was a law against 
drunkenness, passed by the Plymouth Colony authorities, 
July 1, 1633 : " That the person in whose house any were 
found or suffered to drink drunk be left to the arbitrary fine 
and punishment of the Governor and Council, according to 
the nature and circumstances of the same." t 

The first mention of places wherein sales w T ere allow- 
ed is in a law of the same colony, passed in 1636 : " That 
none be suffered to retail wine, strong water, or beer, either 
within doors or without, except in inns or victualling 
houses allowed." $ 

Ten years later, the Massachusetts Colony enacted: 

11 Forasmuch as drunkenness is a vice to be abhorred of all 
nations, especially of those who hold out and profess the Gospel 
of Christ Jesus, and seeing any strict law will not prevail un- 
less the cause be taken away," ordered that "no merchant, 
cooper, or any other person whatever, shall sell any wine under 
one quarter cask, neither by quart, gallon, or any other meas- 
ure, but only such taverns as are licensed to sell by the gallon." 
And it forbade "Any person licensed to sell strong waters, or 
any private housekeeper, to permit any person to sit drinking 
or tippling strong waters, wine or strong beer in their houses." § 

* Teetotaller's Companion, pp. 21, 327. Samuelson, p. 162. 
Smith's Prize Essay, p. 202. Alcohol and the State. By 
Robert C. Pitman, LL.D., p. 266. 

t Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. I. p. 13. 

X Ibid, I. p. 31. 
' § Massachusetts Colony Records, Vol. II. p. 171. 



License Laws. 361 

At Long Island, the people at East Hampton, alarmed 
at the progress of the evils of intemperance, passed an 
order at a town meeting held in 1651 : 

" That no man shall sell any liqnor bat snch as are deputed 
to by the town ; and such men shall not let youths, and such as 
are under other men's management, remain drinking at unrea- 
sonable hours ; and such persons shall not have above half-a- 
pint at a time among four men." * 

In 1665, in Massachusetts Colony, and in 1667, in Ply- 
mouth Colony, cider is placed among the intoxicants not to 
be sold without a license. Attempts multiply as the popu- 
lation of the colonies increases, to restrain the evils of 
drinking by making more stringent regulations, the vari- 
ous laws having such prefaces as these : " Upon complaint 
of the great abuses that are daily committed by the retail- 
ers of strong waters, this Court doth order, etc." 1661. 
u To prevent the mischiefs and great disorders happening 
daily by the abuse of such houses, it is further enacted, 
etc." 1692. 

"Whereas, divers persons that obtain license for the retail- 
ing of wine and strong liquors out of doors only, and not to be 
spent or drunk in their houses, do notwithstanding take upon 
them to give entertainments to persons to sit drinking and tip- 
pling there, and others who have no license at all are yet so 
hardy as to run upon the law, in adventuring to sell without, 
tending to the great increase of drunkenness and other de- 
baucheries, &c." 1694. 

A year later, a law is passed aimed against " divers ill- 
disposed persons, who the pains and penalties in the laws 
already made not regarding, are so hardy as to presume to 
sell and retail strong beer, ale, cider, sherry wine, rum or 
other strong liquors or mixed drinks ; " and sentences such 
to be punished at " the whipping post." In 1698, it becomes 
necessary to pass a law " For the Inspecting and Suppress- 
ing of Disorders in Licensed Houses ) " and in 1710, it was 
ordered that no person shall be licensed to sell liquors 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 422. 



362 Alcohol in History. 

withbut a " certificate from the Selectmen of the town 
where they dwell, of their recommendation of them to be 
persons of sober conversation, suitably qualified and pro- 
vided for such an employment." The same law also pro- 
vided that 

" No town, except the maritime towns, shall have more than 
one inn-holder and one retailer at one and the same time, unless 
the Selectmen of the town shall judge there is need of more for 
the better accommodation of travellers." 

But this does not seem to have produced the desired re- 
sult, for in 1811, there was passed "An Act against In- 
temperance, Immorality, and Profaneness, and for Refor- 
mation of Manners/ 7 in the preamble to which occurs the 
sad confession of the failure to regulate and restrain the 
evils of drinking and the greed of those who are licensed to 
sell: 

"For reclaiming the over great number of licensed houses, 
many of which are chiefly used for revelling and tippling, and 
become nurseries of intemperance and debaucheries, indulged 
by the masters or keepers of the same for the sake of gain." 

And so on through the remainder of the colonial period, 
there are confessions of failure as more and more stringent 
regulations are adopted and then abandoned. John Adams 
writes in his Diary, in 1760 : " Few things, I believe, have 
deviated so far from the first design of their institution, 
are so fruitful of destructive evils, or so needful of a speedy 
regulation, as licensed houses. 77 * What w T as true in 
Massachusetts was also true in all the Colonies. The traf- 
fic was licensed everywhere and licensed because it was 
confessedly an evil which it would not do to leave unre- 
strained ; and all restraints in the way of regulation, were 
so weak and inoperative, that the license laws were in a 
continual state of amendment and change. In Pennsyl- 
vania, although licenses were granted in 1710, only to 
those who were " first recommended by the Quarter Ses- 

* Alcohol and the State, pp. 152-156. 



License Laws. 3G3 

sions to the Governor/' it became necessary by additional 
legislation to protect " minors " against the greed of these 
honorably recommended men. Shortly after, the Grand 
Jury of Philadelphia County presented the houses kept by 
such persons as u a great nuisance/' and represented " that 
there are upwards of a hundred houses licensed, which, with 
all the retailers, make the houses which sell drink nearly 
a tenth part of the city.' 1 

In 1763, the Governor was petitioned to make such 
additional regulations as would " prevent youth from com- 
mitting excesses to their own ruin, the injury of their mas- 
ters, and the affliction of their parents and friends ; " and a 
little later there are loud and bitter complaints to the au- 
thorities, 

" That the multiplication of inns, taverns and dram-shops is 
an obvious national evil, which calls loudly for legislative inter- 
ference j in no country are they more numerous or more univer- 
sally baneful." 

Since the successful close of the War for Independence 
the License system has been in some period of their his- 
tory, the polity of all the State Governments in dealing 
with the liquor traffic. But without exception, this has 
been done on the ground that the safety of community re- 
quires that the traffic shall be made difficult ; and without 
exception, also, no regulation has made it sufficiently diffi- 
cult to secure the desired safety. Over one hundred 
License Laws have been enacted in Massachusetts, and 
from 1682 to 1879, 342 statutes and changes have been 
made in Pennsylvania ; and still the wisdom of legislators 
is vainly taxed to revise, and alter and amend. The same 
is true everywhere ; no license law standing long on the 
statute books without being greatly modified in order to 
securing its greater efficiency. Why these numerous ex- 
periments fail, it will be more pertinent for us to show else- 
where j but that they have not yet done what it was ex- 
pected they would, is confessed in all communities, and by 
all legislators. 



364 Alcohol in History. 

u The Swedish Licensing Act of 1855," contains some 
unique features, and ought, therefore, to be briefly de- 
scribed here, before we pass to mention other proposed 
remedies for the evil of intemperance. Under that law the 
parochial authorities, or the town councils, fix, annually, 
the number of places where spirits may be sold at retail, 
subject to approval by the Governor of the Province. The 
licenses are of two classes, the one for shops, and the other 
for public-houses, including restaurants. The former pay 
for the privilege of selling in quantities of not less than 
half a kan (three-tenths of a g-allon} not to be drunk on 
the premises, at the rate of eleven cents a gallon ; the lat- 
ter to sell in unlimited quantities, and to be drunk if de- 
sired, on the premises, pay seventeen cents per gallon. 
These licenses are sold by auction, for a term of three 
years, to those who offer to pay the required tax on the 
greatest number of kans, estimating beforehand what their 
sales may be, but not bound to pay for any excess of sales 
beyond the number actually stipulated to be paid for in 
their bids. The law also provided that, with certain guar- 
antees, to be approved by the Governor of the Province, the 
authorities may, without an auction sale, dispose of the 
whole number of public-house or restaurant licenses, to any 
company that may organize for the purpose of attending to 
their distribution. Many of the parishes instruct their au- 
thorities to grant no licenses, and in consequence, in a pop- 
ulation of three and a half millions of people, there are only 
450 licensed places. In Gothenburg, the second city in 
Sweden, with a population of about 56,000, the authorities 
fixed on the number of licenses and sold them at auction. 
After pursuing this method for ten years they were con- 
fronted with such a condi ion of demoralization that the 
Town Council was impelled to appoint a committee to in- 
quire into the causes of increasing degradation and pau- 
perism. The chief cause they found to be intemperance -, 
and the Council determined on seeking a remedy in this : 



License Laws. 365 

14 That public-houses should no longer he conducted by indi- 
viduals for the sake of profit, but by an association, which 
should neither bring individual profit to the persons so associa- 
ted, nor to the persons who should manage the different estab- 
lishments." 

Such a company was soon organized, and avowed that 
the following were its leading objects : 

44 First. — To reduce the number of public houses. 

44 Second. — To improve their condition as to light, ventilation, 
cleanliness, etc. 

44 Third. — To make public-houses eating-houses, where warm, 
cooked food should be procurable at moderate prices. 

44 Fourth. — To refuse sale of spirits on credit or pledge. 

44 Fifth. — To employ as managers respectable persons who 
should derive no profit from the sale of spirits, but should be 
entitled to profits from the sale of food and other refreshments, 
including malt liquors. 

44 Sixth. — To secure strict supervision of all public-houses by 
inspectors of their own, in addition to the police. 

44 Seventh. — To pay to the town treasury all the net profits of 
sales of spirits." 

This company went into operation in 1865. At once 
they extinguished one-third of the number of licenses, and 
at once there were evidences of an improved condition of 
things. But it was soon apparent that the relief was only 
temporary; the " ugly statistics" of pauperism and crime 
soon showed that these fruits of the traffic were as prolific as 
before. The fact that the shop licenses were still .under the 
control of the city authorities, was supposed to account for 
this in part 5 and another cause was confessed at last to be 
found in the unlicensed and free beer shops. The shop 
licenses were, therefore, transferred to the company, who 
extinguished some of them, and transferred the remainder 
to private wine merchants, who, it was claimed, kept their 
stores " exclusively for the sale of the higher class of 
spirits and liquors not in ordinary use by the working 
classes." The 400 free-beer shops were supposed to be 
wiped out by a change in the law, " placing malt liquors 
under the same regulations as wine." While the licenses 



366 Alcohol in History. 

were sold at auction by the authorities, the city received 
annually about £7,000, or $35,000. In 1875, the Com- 
pany paid to the city as the net profits on the traffic £35,000, 
or $175,000. In reply to a statement in the British House 
of Commons, that the Gothenburg system was not a success, 
but that drunkenness was on the increase in that city, a 
Gothenburg paper, The HcendeVs Tidning, of March 20, 
1877, pronounced the statement misleading ; but made the 
following confession that there was a gain in the amount 
of liquor consumed : 

" The figures for the year October 1st, 1875, to October 1st, 
1876, which we lately gave, show a total sale of bran-vin 614,- 
608 kans, of which on i selling off shops 7 357,445 ; therefore in 
public-bouses 257,163 kans, or 11,000 more than the former 
year. The sale of spirits of higher class was 52,788 kans, or 
1,000 more than last year." 

This consumption of intoxicants is nearly six gallons 
per capita of the population of Gothenburg, and its fruits 
are manifest in the annual arrests for drunkenness of one 
in about twenty-six of the population.* In common with 
all License Laws of modern times, the Swedish law pro- 
hibits the sale of intoxicants on Sunday, and also sets a 
limit to the hours of evening business. 

IX. Prohibitory Laws. — As of other efforts to sup- 
press the traffic in and use of intoxicants, so also may it be 
said of the prohibition of their sale, traces of it are to be 
found in very ancient times. Du Halde is authority for the 
following with regard to China : " Under the government 
of Yn or Ta Yu, 2207 B. C, an ingenious farmer invented 
wine from rice. The Emperor, seeing that its use was 
likely to be attended with evil consequences, expressly for- 
bade the manufacture or drinking of it under the severest 
penalties ; and even renounced its use himself, and dis- 
missed his cup bearer, lest the princes should be demoral- 
ized by it." t 

* Pitman, p. 216-242. f Annals of the Monarchy Vol. I. p. 145* 



Prohibitory Laws. 367 

In Manu's Institutes of Hindoo Law, Book IX. verse 225, 
is the following : " Sellers of spirituous liquors shall be 
classed with gamesters, revilers of scripture, etc., and shall 
be instantly banished from the town." And it is added, 
v. 22G : " Those wretches, lurking like unseen thieves in 
the dominion of a prince, continually harass his good sub- 
jects with their vicious conduct. 77 Picart * assigns as the 
reason for this prohibition : 

" The high sense which the ancient Brahmins entertained 
for virtue, their strong aversion to anything which might dis- 
order the senses and lead to irregularities. A drink that would 
extinguish reason must be pernicious, they said, and they felt 
obliged to inspire their people with similar sentiments." 

Al. 'Henderson, speaking of the houses of entertainment 
in Home, " in which all kinds of prepared liquors were 
sold/ 7 says that they became so obnoxious, that "In the 
reign of Claudius an edict was issued for their suppress- 
ion. 77 t Morewood, p. 156, says that "Drunkenness in 
Mysore (South India), from Tari, a liquor extracted from 
the wild palm tree, increased to such an extent that the Sul- 
tan Tippoo issued an order that all the trees be cut down. 77 
Partial Prohibition — the prohibition of the sale of ardent 
spirits — was vigorously maintained in Sweden, in 1753- 
1756, and again in 1772-1775. \ 

In the early history of America, special emergencies sev- 
eral times occasioned partial, if not absolute prohibition. 
Mr. W. Eraser Rae, in his recent work, entitled " New- 
foundland to Manitoba, 77 gives (p. 19) the following clause 
from the commission of King Charles I. for the government 
of the fishermen of Newfoundland, in 1630 : 

" That no person do set up any tavern for selling wine, beer, 
or strong waters, cyder or tobacco to entertain the fishermen : 
because it is found that by such means they are debauched, 
neglecting their labour, and poor ill-governed men not only 

* Religious Ceremonies, Vol. III. p. 274. 

t History of Ancient and Modern Wines, p. 104. 

% Alcohol and the State, p. 308. 



368 Alcohol in History, 

spend most part of their shares before they come home, upon 
which the life and maintainance of their wives and children de- 
pend, but are likewise hurtful in divers other ways, as by 
neglecting and making themselves unfit for their labour, by 
purloining and stealing from their owners, and making unlaw- 
ful shifts to supply their disorders, which disorders they fre- 
quently follow since these occasions have presented themselves." 

In 1637, the General Court of Massachusetts made the 
following order : u In regard to the great abuse in ordi- 
nances, it is ordered that no ordinary keeper shall sell 
either sack or strong water."* In 1676, in a new Con- 
stitution of Virginia, " The sale of wines and ardent spirits 
was absolutely prohibited [if not in Jamestown, yet other- 
wise] throughout the whole country." t 

As early as 1805, the Paper Makers Association of 
Philadelphia, before referred to, (see chapter II.) declared 
the principle of prohibition, in these words : 

" The quantity of liquor drunk by those who have a propen- 
sity for it, will always bear some proportion to the facility of 
getting it. This fact is sufficiently proved by daily experience, 
and will refute that silly plea by which retailers attempt to 
iustify themselves, viz. : i If a man wants liquor he will have it, 
and if I don't sell it to him another will.* An argument that 
might as well be used to justify selling opium, or arsenic, to a 
lunatic." X 

So in the u Address to the Churches and Congregations," 
in 1813, the fact is recognized that 

" To the great and increasing numbers of taverns and dram- 
shops, may he traced many of the evils of intemperance. They 
are at once, causes and effects of these mischiefs. Their very 
existence proves that the thirst for ardent spirits is already in- 
satiable ; and while they strongly indicate, they greatly increase 
the disease. ... It cannot be safe to provide so many facilities 
for hard drinking." p. 22. 

As the modern Temperance movement progressed, it 
was natural that the liquor traffic should appear to those 

* Eecords, Yol. I. 

f Centennial Temperance Yol. p. 422. 

X Sampson Shorn, &c, pp. 25, 26. 



Prohibitory Latvs. 369 

who were trying to rescue its victims, as an immoral and 
dangerous business 5 and that as this conviction deepened 
there should be a growing repugnance to its being sanc- 
tioned by law. This first made itself manifest by the with- 
holding of licenses, and subsequently by the passage of 
stringent laws forbidding the sale of intoxicants. As early 
as 1829, the town of Harwich, Mass., instructed its select- 
men not to grant licenses. At once the traders gave up 
the traffic, but unprincipled men re-opened it, until prose- 
cuted by a committee appointed in town meeting, they 
abandoned the business. Subsequently other towns in 
Massachusetts, and several cities and towns in Maine, 
Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and other states, for- 
bade the granting of licenses. The legislatures of Con- 
necticut, Michigan and Xew York submitted the question 
of license to the popular vote of the people. In Connecti- 
cut 200 out of 220 towns elected Temperance Commis- 
sioners. In Michigan a majority of the towns voted no 
License. In Xew York more than five-sixths of the towns 
and cities gave overwhelming majorities against License. 

In 1832, prohibition was advocated in the columns 
of " The Genius of Temperance," a weekly paper, and the 
u Temperance Agent," semi-weekly, both published in New 
York city. Many of the annual gatherings of the various 
Protestant churches, "proclaimed the immorality of the 
liquor traffic and its utter inconsistency with the spirit 
and requirements of the Christian religion." Near the 
close of the same year, General Cass, then Secretary of 
War, issued an order forbidding the introduction of ardent 
spirits into any fort, camp or garrison of the United States, 
and prohibiting their sale by any sutler to the troops. 
Eminent statesmen, jurists and divines gave utterance to 
their convictions of the immorality of the traffic. Said 
Rev. Dr. Humphrey, of Amherst College : 

" It is plain to me as the sua in a clear summer sky that the 
license laws of our country constitute one of the main pillars on 
which the stupendous fabric of intemperance now rests." ' 
24 



370 Alcohol in History. 

Said the Hon. F. Frelinghuysen : "If men will engage in 
this destructive traffic, if they will stoop to degrade their rea- 
son and reap the wages of iniquity, let them no longer have the 
law-book as a pillow, nor quiet conscience by the opiate of a 
coui't-license." 

Judge Pratt made the declaration : " The law which licenses 
the sale of ardent spirits is an impediment to the temperance 
reformation, and the time will come when dram-shops will he 
indictable at common law us public nuisances." 

Said the Grand Jury of the city of New York, after 
recording their deliberate judgment that if drinking were 
at an end three-quarters of the crime and pauperism would 
be prevented : 

" It is our solemn impression that the time has now arrived 
when our public authorities should no longer sanction the evil 
complained of by granting licenses for the purpose of vending 
ardent spirits, thereby legalizing the traffic at the expense of 
our moral and physical power." * 

The first National Temperance Convention of America 
was held this year, and one result of its deliberations was 
the avowal that the traffic in ardent spirits, to be used as a 
beverage, is morally wrong, and ought to be universally 
abandoned. In 1834, Congress, in a law passed u For the 
Protection of the Indian Tribes," prohibited the sale of all 
strong liquors to the red men, and enforced its prohibition 
by instructing the Indian agents to seize and destroy all 
such liquors introduced for sale into the Indian territory. 

The steps which led to the first attempts at prohibitory 
legislation by State authority were taken by men whose 
moral convictions were outraged, not simply by the liquor 
traffic, but quite as violently by the theories of some pro- 
fessed Temperance advocates. In 1832, a State Temperance 
Society was formed in Maine, on the then common basis of 
Moderation. As the cause progressed elsewhere and higher 
ground than this was taken, the leaders in Maine grew 
more and more conservative, and finally compromised more 
fatally with wine drinkers. As a protest against such vir- 

* Centennial Temperance Volume, p. 450. 



Prohibitory Laws. 371 

tual abandonment of the work, a new Society was organized 
on the basis of Total Abstinence, and one of the first acts 
of its leaders was to attempt to secure prohibitory legisla- 
tion. They made their first appearance in the Legislature 
of that State in 1837, when they presented a Memorial, 
drawn up by Gen. James Appleton, of Portland. In this 
document they demanded, not only an abrogation of all 
license laws, " as the support of the traffic/ 7 but also u an 
entire prohibition of all sale, except for medicine and the 
arts, for the same reason that the State makes laws to 
" prevent the sale of unwholesome meats, or for the removal 
of anything which endangers the health and life of the 
citizen, or which threatens to subvert our civil rights or 
overthrow the government." This appeal failed to create 
a law, but it produced a discussion which paved the way 
for future success. 

In 1844, a petition printed and circulated at the personal 
expense of Hon. Neal Dow, praying for a stringent law, 
and " that the traffic in intoxicating drinks might be held 
and adjudged as an infamous crime," was presented to the 
Legislature, and the committee to whom it was referred, 
"reported a bill favorable to Mr. Dow ? s views, which 
passed the House, but was unsuccessful in the Senate." 
The following year similar petitions met a like fate ) and 
then it was determined to take an appeal directly to the 
people. A vigorous canvass followed, a Temperance Legis- 
lature was elected in 1846, 40,000 citizens petitioned for 
prohibition, u and a bill abolishing the license system, and 
leaving all sale forbidden, was passed by a vote of 81 to 
42 in the House, and 23 to 5 in the Senate." 

This success, and the advanced sentiment on Temperance 
in other localities, roused the deteiToined opposition o? the 
liquor dealers in several States. Three suits at law were 
commenced : Thurlow vs. the State, in Massachusetts ; 
Fletcher vs. the State in Rhtocle Island ; and Pierce vs. 
the State in Xew Hampshire. The lower Courts sustained 
the constitutionality of the laws in these respective States, 



372 Alcohol in History. 

whereupon appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Six of the nine Judges were on the 
bench, and their decisions fully sustained the right of the 
State to regulate to any extent the sale of intoxicants. 
Said Chief-Justice Taney : 

"Every State may regulate its own internal traffic, accord- 
ing to its own judgment, and upon its own views of the interest 
and well-being of its citizens. I am not aware that these prin- 
ciples have ever been questioned. If any State deems the retail 
and internal traffic in ardent spirits injurious to its citizens, 
and calculated to produce idleness, vice, or debauchery, I see 
nothing in the Constitution of the United States to prevent it 
from regulating and restraining the traffic, or from prohibiting 
it altogether, if it thinks proper." 

" The law of Kew Hampshire is a valid law ; for although the 
gin sold was an import from another State, Congress already 
has the power to regulate such importations ; yet, as Congress 
has made no regulations on the subject, the traffic in the article 
may be lawfully regulated by the State as soon as it is landed 
in its territory, and a tax imposed upon it, or a license required, 
or the sale prohibited, according to the policy which the State 
may suppose to be its interest or its duty to pursue." 

The opinions of the Associate Judges were in harmony 
with this. Said Judge Catron : 

"If the State has the power to restrain by licenses to any ex- 
tent, she has the discretionary power to judge of its limits, and 
may go to the extent of prohibiting altogether." 

" It is not necessary," said Judge Grier, " to array the appal- 
ling statistics of misery, pauperism and crime, which have 
their origin in the use or abuse of ardent spirits. The police 
power, which is exclusively in the States, is alone competent 
to the correction of these great evils ; and all measures of re- 
straint or prohibition necessary to effect the purpose, are within 
the scope of that authority. If a loss of revenue should accrue 
to the United States from a diminished consumption of ardent 
spirits, she will be the gainer a thousand fold in the health, 
wealth, and happiness of the people." 

Judge Daniel, in reply to the argument that, because the 
importer had paid his duties, he had a right to sell which 
the State could not take from him, decided : 



Prohibitory Laics. 373 

"Xo such right as the one supposed, is purchased by the im- 
porter, aud no injury in any accurate sense is inflicted on him, 
by denying to him the power demanded. He has not purchased 
and cannot purchase from the government that which it could 
not insure to him, a sale independently of the laics and policy of the 
State." Of all imports, he said: "They are like all other 
property of the citizen, and should he equally the subjects of 
domestic regulation and taxation, whether owned by an im- 
porter or his vendor, or may have been purchased by cargo, 
package, bale, piece, or yard, or by hogshead, cask, or bottles." 

Judge JVFLean, on the right of the State to seize and de- 
stroy intoxicants, said : 

u The acknowledged power of a State extends often to the 
destruction of property. A nuisance may be abated. It is the 
settled construction of every regulation of commerce, that no 
person can introduce into a community malignant diseases, 
or anything which contaminates its morals, or endangers its 
safety. Individuals in the enjoyment of their own rights must 
be careful not to injure the rights of others." 

To the same effect, Judge Woodbury said : 

" The laws seize the infected cargo and cast it overboard, not 
from any power which the State assumes to regulate commerce, 
or interfere with the regulations of Congress, but because 
police laws for the prevention of crime, and protection of the 
public welfare, must of necessity have free and full operation, 
according to the exigency that requires their interference." 

The moral power of these decisions was manifest in the 
general advance of Temperance sentiment throughout the 
country. 

In 1847 the Legislature of Delaware passed a Prohibi- 
tory Law, referring it to the people. Subsequently, on ac- 
count of this reference to the people, the Law was set aside 
by the Court, as unconstitutional. In 1855, the Legisla- 
ture created a new prohibitory enactment, which the 
Courts sustained. It was repealed and a license law sub- 
stituted, in 1857. 

In 1848, the New Hampshire Legislature submitted to 
the people to vote on the expediency of a Prohibitory Law. 
The vote throughout the State was light, but three-fourths 



374 Alcohol in History. 

of the votes cast were in favor of the proposed law. The 
following year, the Legislature enacted a Prohibitory Law. 
A still more stringent law was passed in 1855. 

In 1849, Wisconsin enacted a law permitting no person 
to vend or retail spirituous liquors until he shall have given 
bonds to pay all damages the community or individuals 
may sustain by the traffic 



" To support all paupers, widows, and orphans, and pay the 
expenses of all ciyil and criminal prosecution growing out of or 
justly attributable to such traffic. A married woman may sue 
for damages done to her husband, and no suit shall be main- 
tained for liquor bills. " 

The next year, an additional provision made it the duty 
of Supervisors to prosecute rumsellers in cases of pauper- 
ism and crime. In 1855, the Legislature passed a Prohibi- 
tory Law, but the Governor vetoed it. In 1872 stringent 
laws were enacted, which, in 1873, were so modified as to 
break their force. 

In 1850, the people of Michigan put into their new Con- 
stitution, the following provision : " The Legislature shall 
not pass any act authorizing the grant of license for the 
sale of ardent spirits or other intoxicating liquors. " In 
1853, a Prohibitory Law was enacted, which was declared 
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. In 1855 a new 
law w T as passed, which was repealed in 1875. 

The Constitution of the State of Ohio, ratified by the 
people in 1851, contained the following provision: "Xo 
license to traffic in intoxicating liquors shall hereafter be 
granted in this State, but the General Assembly may, by 
law, provide against evils resulting therefrom." Based on 
this the so-called Adair Law was enacted in 1854, a law 
making owners or lessees of buildings rented for the sale of 
liquors, as also the sellers themselves, responsible for dam- 
ages resulting from such sales. Subsequently this was so 
amended as to require that before such persons can be held 
responsible, they must first receive notice from the persons 
liable to be injured, not to sell or give liquor to the person 



Prohibitory Laws. 375 

liable to commit the injury when intoxicated. A law has 
also been passed which allows the sale of native wines 
and cider, and takes from corporations the power to pro- 
hibit ale, beer, and porter-houses. 

The same year, 1851, a more thorough and perfect law 
was adopted in Maine. It was repealed in 1856, but re-en- 
acted in 1857, and has from time to time been strengthened 
by amendments, as occasion has required. 

In March, 1852, Minnesota, while yet a Territory, passed 
a Prohibitory Law, with a proviso for its ratification by the 
people, which was accomplished the same year ; where- 
upon the Supreme Court decided that the submission of the 
Act to the vote of the people was unconstitutional. 

In 1871, a law was passed prohibiting the sale of intox- 
icants near the line of the Northern Pacific Eailroad during 
the construction thereof. 

In May, 1852, the Legislature of Rhode Island passed 
a Prohibitory Law, which it made more stringent the fol- 
lowing month, and still further perfected in 1853. It was, 
however, declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. 
In 1874 another Prohibitory Law was adopted, but was re- 
pealed in 1875. 

In May, 1852, the Legislature of Massachusetts made 
Prohibition the Law in that Commonwealth. Some of the 
provisions of the law having been declared unconstitutional 
by the Supreme Judicial Court, in 1854, the law was thor- 
oughly revised in 1855, and has since that time trium- 
phantly stood the test of the sharpest judicial contests and 
criticism. In 1868 it was repealed, and a license law was 
substituted, but in 1869 the License law was repealed and 
the Prohibitory law was re-enacted, with malt liquors ex- 
empted. Changes in the modifications in favor of malt 
liquors, were made in 1870, but the law was repealed in. 
1873. In 1875 a license law supplanted all other legisla- 
tion, with a proviso that cities and towns might refuse to 
grant licenses. 

Vermont also passed a Prohibitory Law in 1852, which 



376 Alcohol in History. 

in 1853, was ratified by the direct vote of the people. 
In 1880 the law has been made more stringent by the 
enactment of a Nuisance Act. the most significant sections 
of which are the following : 

"Sec. 1. Every saloon, restaurant, grocery, cellar, shop, 
billiard-room, bar-room and every drinking-place or room used 
as a place of resort, where intoxicating liquor is unlawfully 
sold, furnished, or given away, or kept for selling, furnishing, 
or giving away unlawfully, and every place or room used or 
resorted to for gambling, shall be held to be a common nui- 
sance, kept in violation of law. 

" Sec. 2. When, upon trial, it is proved that intoxicating 
liquor is kept for unlawful sale, furnishing, or giving away, or 
is unlawfully sold, furnished, or given away in a place named 
in the preceding section, or that gambling is done in such place, 
the court shall adjudge such place to be a common nuisance, and 
the same shall be shut up and abated by the order of the court; 
and the person keeping the same shall be adjudged by the 
court guilty of keeping and maintaining a common nuisance, 
and shall be fined not less than twenty dollars, nor more than 
two hundred dollars, or he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 
twenty dollars, and imprisonment not less than one month, nor 
more than three months, in the discretion of the court. 

" Sec. 6. The State's attorney, when such a bond is forfeited, 
shall prosecute and recover the amount so forfeited on behalf of 
the State, and when such duty is neglected by the State's at- 
torney for six months after being notified of such forfeiture, 
any other person may institute proceedings for such recovery in 
an action of debt in the name of the State, and such person, 
upon recovery and the payment of such amount into the State 
treasury, shall be allowed one-half the amount thereof. 

" Sec. 8. A person who knowingly lets a building, tenement, 
place, or room, owned by him or under his control, for any of 
the purposes named in the first section of this act, or knowingly 
permits the same, or a part thereof, to be so used, shall be fined 
cot less than twenty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars, 
or he shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars, and imprison- 
ment not less than one month and not more than three months." 

In 1853, the Legislature of Connecticut passed a Prohib- 
itory Law, which was vetoed by Governor Seymour • but 
the following year it enacted another, which was repealed 

in 1872. 



Prohibitory Laws. 377 

In 1853, the Indiana Legislature passed a Prohibitory 
Law, with a provision that it be submitted to the people, 
a clause which the Supreme Court pronounced unconstitu- 
tional. In 1855 the Legislature passed another Law, but 
the conflicting opinions and weaknesses of its courts have 
rendered it inoperative. A license law took its place in 
1874. In 1854, a Prohibitory Law was passed by the 
Legislature of New York, and was vetoed by Governor 
Horatio Seymour. The next year the law was re-enacted, 
but some of its provisions being pronounced unconstitutional 
by the Court of Appeals, the Legislature substituted a 
license law, in 1857. 

In 1855, Illinois enacted a law, which, so far as it was 
applicable to dram-drinking was prohibitory. It allowed, 
however, the free manufacture of cider and wine, and their 
sale in quantities not less than five gallons. On its being 
submitted to the approval of the people, it was rejected. 

Iowa also passed a Prohibitory Law, the same year 
which was ratified by the vote of the people. In 1858 
fermented liquors were excluded from its prohibitions; and 
the law is thereby badly crippled. 

In the Territory of Nebraska a Prohibitory Law was 
enacted in 1855. 

As experience has shown that all statutes are liable to 
modifications and to repeal ; that partizan zeal accepts, if 
it does not solicit, the influence of numbers, regardless of 
the price paid, and is so bent on immediate success as to be 
willing to make any compromise in order to secure it ; and 
that Constitutional Amendments which merely deny to the 
Legislature the power to license the evil of the liquor traffic, 
are often powerless to prevent the free sale of the liquors 
which produce drunkenness ; — efforts are now being made 
to place in the Constitutions of the several States, a pro- 
vision absolutely prohibiting the manufacture of, and the 
traffic in intoxicants as a beverage. 

The first of these attempts as yet crowned with success, 
was in Kansas, where in the November election of 1880, the 



378 Alcohol in History. 

following amendment to the Constitution, was adopted "by 
the people • u The manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
liquors shall be forever prohibited in this State, except for 
medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes." 

In 1881 the people of Iowa adopted the following 
amendment : 

11 No person shall manufacture for sale, sell, or keep for sale 
as a beverage any intoxicating liquors whatever, including ale, 
wine, and beer. The General Assembly shall, by law, prescribe 
regulations for the enforcement of the prohibitions herein con- 
tained, and shall thereby provide suitable penalties for violations 
of the provisions thereof." 

In 1884 the State of Maine incorporated into its Consti- 
tution the following : 

" The manufacture of intoxicating liquors, not including cider, 
and the sale and keeping for sale of intoxicating liquors, are, 
and shall be forever prohibited ; except, however, that the 
sale and keeping for sale of such liquors for medical and mechan- 
ical purposes and the arts, and the sale and keeping for sale of 
cider may be permitted under such regulations as the Legisla- 
ture may provide." 

In 1885, the following became a part of the Constitution 
of Ehode Island : 

" The manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors to be used 
as a beverage shall be prohibited. The General Assembly shall 
provide by law for carrying this Article into effect." 

Attempts in this direction are also being made in other 
States. 

X. Local Option Laws. — In several States, w r here it 
has been found impossible to obtain prohibitory legislation, 
laws have been enacted, allowing the people of the several 
towns and cities, to determine by popular vote whether the 
sale of intoxicants as a beverage, shall be allowed or for- 
bidden. In some instances this privilege of Local Option 
covers all parts of the State, while in others, particular 
localities are exempt from the operation of the law. The 
following is believed to be an accurate statement of the 
order and extent of such legislation. 



Local Option Laivs. 379 

The honor of inaugurating this form of relief is due to 
the State of Kansas, whose Legislature, passed a law in 
1867, for the regulation and control of the liquor-traffic, in 
which was the provision : 

"That no license should be granted to any individual to sell 
intoxicating liquors within the State until the party applying 
for the license, should present to the proper authorities a peti- 
tion for the same, signed by majority of the adult citizens, 
both male and female, of his district, or, if in a city, the ward 
in which he proposed to engage in the business." 

In 1871, on the failure to obtain a general law from the 
Legislature of New Jersey, several townships had their 
petitions granted for special legislation giving this privi- 
lege to their respective localities. An additional number 
of towns obtained the same right in 1873. 

In 1872, the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a Local 
Option law, requiring the vote to be taken by cities and 
counties, and not by wards and townships. Special acts 
were also passed allowing the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, 
Fifteenth and Twenty-ninth Wards of Philadelphia to de- 
termine the matter for themselves, irrespective of the ag-gre- 
gate vote of the entire city. The following year, the 
liquor-dealers made violent efforts for the repeal of the law, 
but without effect ; and on the bringing of a test case to 
the notice of the Supreme Court, the law was pronounced 
constitutional. Subsequently the law was repealed by the 
Legislature. % 

The same year (1872), the New York Legislature passed 
a similar law, applicable to towns only, but it was vetoed 
by the Governor. 

In 1873, action was had in the following States : The 
Maryland Legislature refused to grant the petition of the 
people for a general law, but enacted one for five counties, 
and a number of districts in others. A year or two later 
additional counties were included in the privilege of Local 
Option. 

In Kentucky, a law was passed requiring an election to 



380 Alcohol in History. 

be held in every district, town, or city, upon the application 
of twenty legal voters; and if a majority of votes be 
against the sale, then the traffic shall be unlawful. The 
iirst opportunity for the application of the law, resulted 
in the ordering of elections in 259 towns, 207 of which 
voted against the sale of intoxicants. 

In North Carolina, a Local Option law was passed, 
which in 1874, was amended by a provision that, where 
prohibition has been carried by a vote of the people, it 
shall stand good until the liquor interest overturns it by 
calling an election and voting it down. 

Mississippi enacted a statute containing this clause : 

" That no license shall be granted or renewed unless signed 
by a majority of the male citizens over twenty-one years of age, 
and a majority of female citizens over eighteen years of age re- 
sident in the supervisor's district, incorporated city or town." 

The Alabama Legislature refused to grant a law cover- 
ing the whole State, but gave special laws to many of the 
towns. Subsequently the law was made applicable to sev- 
eral counties. 

The Legislature of Tennessee passed a strong law, by 
large majorities in both Houses ; but it was killed by the 
Governor's veto. 

Indiana enacted a similar law, which was repealed a 
year or two later. 

In 1874, the following States took action : 

In Georgia, the Legislature passed a bill covering forty 
counties, in which the 'sale of liquors was prohibited unless 
two-thirds of the property holders agreed thereto in writing. 
At the same session Local Option was extended to thirteen 
counties, and to twenty-five smaller localities. 

In Oregon a bill was passed prohibiting the sale of liquors 
unless a majority of the legal voters shall petition there- 
for. 

In 1875, the Legislature of Massachusetts provided that 
the local authorities of towns and cities might give or with- 
hold licenses. It also passed a Civil Damage law. 



Local Option Laws. 381 

In the Dominion of Canada, after several unsuccessful 
efforts in former years, success was attained in passing a 
Local Option law, applicable to the two large provinces 
of Ontario and Quebec, in 1864. The law provides that : 

" On the petition of thirty rate-payers the municipal council of 
any city, town or township is obliged to submit a by-law to the 
electors, asking them to vote either for or against a prohibitory 
liquor law for such city, town, or township, as the case maybe. 
A by-law passed can only be repealed in the same way, and 
must remain in force at least one year." 

A large number of townships, and several entire counties 
in both provinces, have established local prohibition under 
this law. In 1878, this law was amended by providing, 
among other things, that when the by-law is once adopted, 
u it cannot be repealed for a period of three years." The 
legality of the law having been questioned, the Supreme 
Court of Appeal have decided on its constitutionality. 

In Great Britain a struggle has been going on since 
1863, to induce Parliament to pass a Permissive Prohibitory 
Liquor Bill. The idea originated with the General Council 
of the United Kingdom Alliance, and being laid before 
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, was put into the form of a law, with 
the following preamble : 

" Whereas , The sale of intoxicating liquors is a fruitful source 
of crime, immorality, pauperism, disease, insanity, and prema- 
ture death, whereby not only the individuals who give way to 
drinking habits are lounged into misery, but grievous wrong is 
done to the persons and property of her Majesty's. subjects at 
large, and the x>ublic rates and taxes are greatly augmented ; 
and ichereas, it is right and expedient to confer on the rate-pay- 
ers of cities, boroughs, parishes and townships the power to pro- 
hibit such common sale as aforesaid; be it therefore enacted/' etc. 

The bill then provides that, on application of any district, 
the vote of the ratepayers shall be taken as to the expe- 
diency of adopting the provisions of the act, but that two- 
thirds of the votes taken shall be necessary in order to 
make an affirmative decision. After many defeats, the bill 
was passed to its second reading in the summer of 1880, and 
strong hopes are entertained that it may soon become a law. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Eight and Duty of the State to Prohibit the Liquor Traffic. 
— Prohibition a Success. — Obstacles and Objections to Pro- 
hibition considered. — Conclusion. 

THE power of the State to deal with the liquor traffic 
by laws seeking to restrict and restrain it, has been 
confessed, — as see the preceding sketch of the history of 
License laws, — for more than four hundred years, by the 
English-speaking people. More than this, the duty of 
using that power has been acknowledged, and as the hun- 
dreds of License laws which have been enacted show, lias 
been performed according to the light and wisdom which 
various forms of human government have possessed. But, 
for the reasons announced by Sheldon Amos, in treat- 
ing on Licensed Prostitution, all license of a confessed 
evil has wrought mischief and has failed to secure the ends 
which it was hoped that it would reach. Says Sheldon 
Amos: 

" The merits of legislation cannot be judged by the honest mo- 
tive of its originators, but wholly by reference to the well- 
known operation upon man's nature of causes with which all 
are familiar. The whole system of regulating vice, by ascer- 
taining the conditions it may alone be indulged in without in- 
fringing police rules, gives a transparent legality or 'righteous- 
ness ; to it, when so pursued, which no counter explanation nor 
apologies can ever dissipate. It always seems to be forgotten 
by those who advocate these systems that there are sufficiently 
strong incentives to vice already existing, which it is the 
hardest effort of civilization to counteract." " The licensing 
system, in all its possible forms, gives public expression to 
(382) 






Liquor Traffic and the State. 383 

the fact that there are forms of licentiousness which are 
in strict accordance with law. Because law is too impotent 
to punish, there can be no reason why law makers should 
go to the other extreme and protect and encourage." . . 

" In all other cases it is admitted that where 

law cannot keep pace with the promptings of morality, it must 
at the least, help, substantiate, and never contradict, common 
moral maxims." . . . . " It is only in countries where a 
system of licensing and regulating, prevails, that, while the 
decrees of morality are held to be absolute in favor of virtue, the 
decrees of law are equally decisive only when vice is prac- 
tised outside certain arbitrary limits assigned. Within these lim- 
its a great State machinery, constructed at enormous cost, exists 
for determining the persons for whom, and the places, the times, 
and the conditions within which profligacy may be freely in- 
dulged in without risk of interference with law. 7ice is antici- 
pated, provided for, paid for, and hedged round with peculiar 
securities by the State." . . . "Be it remembered, in the 
licensing system there is no one feature which might gradually 
work in favor of its own termination, and of the abolition of 
immorality, and which must finally secure them. On the con- 
trary, every feature tends to aggravate immorality, whether 
with or without its attendant diseases, and to consolidate it 
forever, — i. e., as long as the nation can last." . . . "In the 
place of the absolute immorality — comes the notion of its rela- 
tive immorality only in certain places, at certain times, and 
under certain conditions." . . . " It is as bad from many 
points of view that a law should seem to ninety-nine persons 
out of a hundred to be designed to favor immorality, as that it 
should in fact favor it .... "You would regulate vice, 
but it is of the essence of vice to refuse to be regulated. Vice 
violates moral law, and you may expect it will transgress human 
rules. It is like a mighty river that has overflown its banks. It 
is a torrent whose fury you cannot arrest. You cannot say, 
1 Thus far shalt thou go and no farther/ It mocks at all your 
regulations." * 

These statements, written, as has been said, as the basis 
of an argument against legalized prostitution, are equally 
true, as experience sadly attests, against the legalized sale 

* " Comparative Survey of Laws in Force for the Prohibition, 
Regulation, and Licensing of Vice in England and other coun- 
tries." Pp. 13, 14, 15, 39,40, 100, 227, 242. 



334 Alcohol in History. 

of intoxicants as a beverage 5 for, beyond all dispute, the 
whole history of such traffic, is a history of waste, of shame, 
and of sin, with no redeeming feature whatever, to relieve 
this darkness and horror. Possibly, and very probably, 
alcohol may have a useful and remedial place as adminis- 
tered by skillful physicians in some cases of disease, but 
this is very different from its place and work as a beverage. 
The license system which provides for the sale of intoxi- 
cants at hotels, saloons, or groggeries of whatever names, 
is not a system devised or perpetuated for the benefit of 
the sick 5 nor with any reference to them whatever 5 but it 
has its place and power wholly w^th reference to the de- 
praved and perverted appetites of those who seek intoxi- 
cants as a beverage only. And in view of the inevitable 
consequences of such indulgences, — the poverty, crime, 
general demoralization and wreck of manhood — the state 
which legalizes such traffic, is, no matter what it may sup- 
pose itself to be doing, a guilty provider for and a direct 
participant in the consequences which flow from its licen- 
ses. 

"But free sales," it is said, " ought not to be alio wed 5 
we should be overrun with drunkenness if that were the 
case ; besides, a traffic which causes pauperism and crime 
ought to be made to pay the expenses of its mischief, and 
hence the license fee is a fund to this end." The reply to 
this is the simple statement of the fact that, never, in the 
whole history of the traffic, has licensing diminished drunk- 
enness 5 and also, that the license fee never has furnished 
more than a drop in the bucket of expense which the 
licensed evil has filled. As compared with what the sober 
and industrious portion of community pay for the conse- 
quences of licensed liquor drinking, and what the licensed 
dealer pays for the privilege of selling, the difference is 33 
per cent., against one per cent., an appalling result in a 
humanitarian point of view, a stupid blunder in the light 
of political economy. 

It must also be said, that free rum, by which is meant 






Liquor Traffic and the State. 385 

the toleration of the sale of intoxicants by law, is not a 
positive act on the part of our law-makers, but simply a 
neglect, a negative act 5 while toleration is overstepped the 
moment the law is made to interfere by placing the traffic 
under regulations, with the avowed intent of legalizing the 
sales and protecting the seller from interference. In such 
a case, as Sheldon Amos well says : 

" If the law is knowingly allowed to incline, on the whole, in 
favor of an immoral sentiment, or if such an interpretation of 
it is allowed to be so much as possible, it is. one of the most 
heinous of moral offences of which a State or its rulers can be 
guilty. The general moral sentiments of a people are depend- 
ent on a vast variety of subtle and incalculable influences 5 
their religion, their traditional customs and institutions, their 
social habits, their historical antecedents, the amount and 
character of their intercourse with foreigners, the dominant 
speculative theories, and the prevalent educational enterprises, 
all combine to create and enforce the moral sentiments of the 
hour ; while these sentiments themselves react powerfully upon 
all those influences. But, no one of those influences is so om- 
nipresent, so enduring, so persuasive, so directly authoritative, 
as the voice of the State uttered either in its laws or its admin- 
istrative acts. These laws and acts speak with a deliberateness 
of purpose and a magniloquence of style which, while they 
compel the attention of all, powerfully impress the imagination 
in a way no other private or public utterance can." * 

Said Rev. Albert Barnes, in his sermon on i The Throne 
of Iniquity : ? 

" An evil always becomes tvorse by being sustained by the law 
of the land. It is much to have the sanction of law and the 
moral force of law in favor of any course of human conduct. 
In the estimation of many persons, to make a thing legal is to 
make it morally right, and an employment which is legal is pur- 
sued by them with few rebukes of conscience, and with little 
disturbance from any reference to a higher than human author- 
ity. Moreover, this fact does much to deter others from oppos- 
ing the evil, and from endeavoring to turn the public indigna- 
tion against it. It is an unwelcome thing for a good man ever 
to set himself against the laws of the land, and to denounce 
that as wrong which they affirm to be right." 

* Ibid, p, 223. 
25 



386 Alcohol in History. 

" Soon after the enactment of the present license law in Mas- 
sachusetts/' says Judge Pitman, " 1 was holding a term of court, 
when a deputy sheriff said to me one morning : i I have just 
seen a sad sight — a fellow persuading a reluctant comrade to 
enter a grog-shop.' l Come along/ said he, ' this is now as re- 
spectable a place as any ; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
says so.'"* 

In the light of all moral reasoning, the license of the 
sale of intoxicants as a beverage is an unmitigated curse, 
and the question whether the State has the right to prohibit 
such sale, can admit of but one answer : It is clearly the 
province of law to interfere with and forbid whatever jeo- 
pardizes the liberty, prosperity, and property of its subjects. 
Vice of every kind is in antagonism with these, and is the 
proper subject of legislation 5 how much more, then, shall 
a traffic confessedly the most prolific of all things in pro- 
moting vice, be declared a crime. " Virtue," says Prof. 
Newman, " must come from tuithin; to this problem 
religion and morality must direct themselves. But vice 
may come from without; to hinder this is the care of the 
statesman. 7 ' 

The following are accepted principles in the Science of 
Law. 

" The true mission of Government is to regulate the equitable 
relations of men. This it does by protecting the weak against 
the strong, and by securing to each member of the community the 
undisturbed possession of his natural and civil rights. The on- 
ly limitation to the rights of the individual is when he engages 
in an y calling that interferes with the rights of others, or endan- 
gers their life or property." 

Says Bentham : " The sole object of government ought to be 
the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the commu- 
nity. This end is promoted by encouraging every industry and 
institution calculated to confer benefit ; and discouraging, and 
even sternly repressing, those of a pernicious, immoral, and 
dangerous character; in a word, by such wise legislation as 
shall tend to promote the physical health, the social comfort, 
and the intellectual enjojunents of the people." f 

* Alcohol and the State, p. 391. 

t Our Nation's Peril, by Professor John Moffat, p. 86. 



Liquor Traffic and the State. 387 

Lord Chesterfield, in the Debates in Parliament in 1743, 
on the Bill to reduce the Duties on Spirits, said : 

" The specious pretence on which this bill is founded, and 
indeed the only pretence that deserves to be called specious, is 
the propriety of taxing vice ; but this maxim of government has 
on this occasion been either mistaken or perverted. Vice, my 
Lords, is not properly to be taxed, but suppressed; and heavy 
taxes are sometimes the only means by which that suppression 
can be attained. Luxury, my Lords, or the excess of that which 
is pernicious only by its excess, may very properly be taxed, 
that such excess, though not strictly unlawful, may be made 
more difficult. But the use of these things which are simply 
hurtful, hurtful in their own nature and in every degree, is to 
be prohibited. None, my Lords, ever heard in any nation of a 
tax on theft or adultery, because a tax implies a license granted 
for the use of that which is taxed, to all who shall be willing 
to pay for it. Drunkenness, my Lords, is universally and in all 
circumstances an evil, and therefore ought not to be taxed, but 
punished; and the means of it not to be made easy by a slight 
impost which none can feel, but to be removed out of the reach 
of the people, and secured by the heaviest taxes levied, with the 
utmost rigor. I hope those to whose care the religion of the na- 
tion is particularly consigned, will unanimously join with me 
in maintaining the necessity not of taxing vice, but suppressing 
it, and unite for the rejection of a bill by which the future as 
well as present happiness of thousands must be destroyed.' 7 * 

In the same debate, the Bishop of Oxford said: "To leave 
the nation in its present state, which is allowed on all hands 
to be a state of corruption, seems to be the ntmost ambition of 
one of the noble lords who have pleaded with the greatest 
warmth for this bill; for he concluded with an air of triumph by 
askiug, how we can be censured for only suffering the nation to 
continue in its former state ? We may be, in my opinion, my 
Lords, censured as traitors to our trust and enemies of our 
country, if we permit any vice to prevail, when it is in our pow- 
er to suppress it. We may be cursed, with justice, by posterity 
as the abettors of that debauchery by which poverty and disease 
shall be entailed upon them ; contemned in the present as the 
flatterers of those appetites which we ought to regulate, and 
insulted by that populace which we dare not oppose." t 



* Gentleman's Magazine, Dec. 1743, p. 628. 
t Ibid. Jan. 1744, p. 3. 



388 Alcohol in History. 

This principle cf the right and duty of law-makers to 
legislate against such a traffic, is also declared by Bishop, 
a high authority on criminal law : 

" The State, in tlie enactment of its laws, must exercise its 
judgment concerning what acts tend to corrupt the public mor- 
als, impoverish the community, disturb the public impose, injure 
the public interest, or even impair the comfort of individual 
members over whom its protecting watch and care are required. 
And the power to judge of this question is necessarily reposed 
alone in the legislature, from whose decision no appeal can be 
taken, directly or indirectly, to any other department of the 
Government. When, therefore, the Legislature, with this ex- 
clusive authority, has exercised its right of judging concern- 
ing this legislative question, by the enactment of prohibitions 
like those discussed in this chapter, all other departments of 
the Government are bound by the decision, which no court has a 
jurisdiction to review." * 

It was in perfect agreement with, and in defence of this 
principle, that the Judges of the Supreme Court gave their 
decision on the right of the State to prohibit the sale of 
intoxicants, as quoted in the previous chapter. 

A still later decision, rendered by Chief-Justice Harring- 
ton, of Delaware, in the case of " The State vs. Allmond/' 
not only affirms this principle, but also declares that it has 
never been judicially denied : 

" We have seen no adjudged case which denies the power of a 
State, in the exercise of its sovereignty, to regulate the traffic in 
liquor for restraint as well as for revenue; and as a police mea- 
sure, to restrict ox prohibit the sale of liquor as injurious to pub- 
lic morals or dangerous to public peace. The subjection of pri- 
vate property, in the mode of its enjoyment, to the public good, 
and its subordination to general rights liable to be injured by 
its unrestricted use, is a principle lying at the foundations of 
government. It is a condition of the social state ; the price of 
its enjoyment ; entering into the very structure of organized 
society,' existing by necessity for its preservation, and recogniz- 
ed by the Constitution in the terms of its reservation as the 
right of acquiring and protecting reputation and property, and 

* Statutory Crimes, sec. 995. Cited in Alcohol and the State. 
p. 103. 



Liquor Traffic and the State. 389 

of attaining objects suitable to their condition without in- 
jury one to another.' ;; * 

On tliis principle all Prohibitory Legislation has been 
based, and the common-sense arguments in its favor are 
irrefutable. Even Herbert Spencer, radically defective as 
his definition of a State is, and shocking to all moral sense 
and experience as is his declaration that " Government is 
essentially immoral ," declares that those who are " volun- 
tarily associated " in a State, are so associated " for mutual 
protection 5 " a declaration, which, — imperfect as it is as a 
full definition of the purpose of State government, — is suf- 
ficiently broad and explicit to refute his position that sani- 
tary regulations are u a violation of rights , " and that u the 
State has no right to educate ; " *j" and also, in its suggestion 
of the inquiry, " Protection " from what ? necessitates the 
conclusion that it is the province of the State to prohibit a 
traffic which puts in jeopardy the life, liberty and property 
of every citizen. 

And John Stuart Mill, in his Essay on u Liberty," giving 
substantially the same definition of the purpose of Govern- 
ment as that given by Spencer, and objecting to all laws 
u where the object of the interference is to make it impos- 
sible or difficult to obtain a particular commodity," (p. 185,) 
and carrying his ideas of personal liberty to such an extreme 
as to declare that, " Fornication, for example, must be tol- 
erated, and so must gambling/ 7 (p. 191 ;-) yet in his chapter 
on the " Limits to the Authority of Society over the Indi- 
vidual," says : 

" Law is to prevent infringement upon personal rights, and 
to make each person bear his share of the labor and sacrifice 
incurred for defending the society or its members from injury 
or molestation. . . As soon as any part of a person's conduct 
affects prejudicially the interests of others, society has jurisdic- 
tion over it. The question is then open whether the general 
welfare will, or will not, be promoted by interfering with it. 



* Cited in Alcohol and the State, p. 106. 
t Social Statics, pp. 230, 303, 361, 406. 



390 Alcohol in History. 

. . "Whenever in short there is a definite damage, or risk of 
damage, to an individual or to the public, the case is taken 
out of the domain of liberty and placed in that of morality or 
law." 

To be sure, he claims that there is no such " definite 
damage, or risk of damage/ 7 in the liquor traffic ; but in 
this he is contradicted by all the history of crime, and of 
pauperism. If the liquor traffic produces no " definite 
damage w to both the " individual " and the " public/ 7 it is 
absurd to attribute " damage 77 to any source ; as to ordinary 
observation it is obvious that " definite damage 77 from this 
source, to say nothing of indefinite, i. e., incalculable, " not 
limited/ 7 " damage/ 7 is greater and more horrible than from 
any other source known to man. And the fact, that, for 
centuries this traffic has been placed in the " domain of 
morality and law/ 7 is conclusive proof that the judgment 
of mankind in regard to the damaging character of the 
traffic, is wholly opposed to Mr. MilPs unsupported assertion 
in regard to it. 

In the preceding chapter a brief sketch is given of the 
history of Prohibitory Legislation, indicating not only the 
order, in point of time, of such laws in different localities, 
but also the fact that such legislation has often been 
repealed in toto, or so modified by amendments as to break 
its force. Such an experience leads many to conclude that 
the Prohibitory principle thus applied, is a failure ; and 
therefore, whatever may seem plausible, or even just and 
desirable in theory, cannot succeed when applied. 

We now proceed to show that such a conclusion is not 
warranted by well attested facts. 

I. Alexander Balfour, in a letter addressed to Mr. Glad- 
stone, says of the operation of the Permissive Prohibitory 
Act operative in parts of Sweden : 

" So vigorously have the people outside of towns used their 
permission to limit and prohibit, that among three and a half 
millions of people there are only 450 places for the sale of spirits. 

. . This it is which has so helped Sweden to emerge from 
moral and material prostration, and which explains the ex- 



Liquor Traffic and the State. 391 

istence of such general indications in that country of comfort 
and independence amongst all classes. " (pp. 36-7.) 

Of the still earlier attempts at Prohibition in Sweden, the 
Chief of the Statistical Office in the Department of Justice, 
wrote to the Massachusetts Board of Health, as appears in 
their Second Eeport: 

" A vigorously maintained prohibition against spirits in 1753- 
1756, and again in 1772-1775, proved the enormous benefits 
effected in moral, economical, and other effects, by abstinence 
from spirits." 

In Great Britain, large land-owners have power to pro- 
hibit the traffic in intoxicants on their premises. Many use 
this power, and the results are most definite and satisfac- 
tory. In the Province of Canterbury, having a population 
of over 14,000,000, the Committee of the Lower House of 
Convocation, reported, in 1869 : 

" Few, it may be believed, are cognizant of the fact — which 
has been elicited by the present inquiry— that there are at 
this time, within the Province of Canterbury, upwards of one 
thousand parishes in which there is neither public-house nor 
beer-shop, and where, in consequence of the absence of these 
inducements to crime and pauperism, according to the evidence 
now before the committee, the intelligence, morality, and com- 
fort of the people are such as the friends of temperance would 
have anticipated." 

Of other sections of the Kingdom a writer in the Edin- 
burgh Review for January, 1873, says : 

" We have seen a list of eighty-nine estates in England and 
Scotland where the drink-traffic has been altogether suppressed, 
with the very happiest social results. The late Lord Palmerston 
suppressed the beer shops in Eomsey as the leases fell in. We 
know an estate which stretches for miles along the romantic 
shore of Loch Fyne, where no whiskey is allowed to be sold. The 
peasants and fishermen are flourishing. They all have 
money in the bank, and they obtain higher wages than their 
neighbors when they go to sea." 

At Low Moor, a settlement established by a largo Cotton 
Manufacturing firm, prohibition is rigidly enforced. One 



392 Alcohol in History, 

of the members of the firm writes under date of February 
27, 1871 :. 

"We send some account of the community at Low Moor, 
which we are happy to say still remains without a beer-shop or 
a public-house. ... It has neither stocks nor gaol nor 
lockup. We have a population of about 1,100. Our people can 
sleep with their doors open, and we have the finest fruit in 
the district, in season, in our mill windows, (which are never 
fastened) without any ever being stolen. Our death-rate is 
perhaps the lowest in the kingdom ; taking the average of the 
last twelve years, it is under sixteen in the thousand." 

A similar experience is known at Saltaire, a town be- 
longing to Sir Titus Salt, Bart., and having about 5,000 
inhabitants. All the workmen of the town are in the em- 
ploy of the landholder, who, from a desire to promote the 
physical comfort and the moral well-being of the people, 
banished the liquor- traffic from the town. The best possi- 
ble results followed, viz., an entire absence of drunkenness, 
crime and pauperism, and the positive blessings of health, 
comfort and cleanliness. After a time, some workmen 
brought from a distance, with a view of carrying out cer- 
tain improvements in the town, raised such an outcry 
against being deprived of their customary beverage, that 
Mr. Salt authorized five grocers to sell small beer, not to 
be drunk on the premises. Such were the effects, insubor- 
dination among the men, and drunkenness among the 
women, that licenses were not renewed after the expiration 
of the first year. Of the present condition of the town, Mr. 
Hoyle, in his " Homes of the Working-classes," says : 

" One thing there is which is not to be found in Salta,ire, and 
Mr. Salt deserves as much praise for its absence as he does for 
anything which he has provided. Not a public-house or beer- 
house is there. And what are the results ? Briefly these. There 
are scarcely ever any arrears of rent. Infant mortality is very 
low as compared with that of Bradford, from which place the 
majority of the hands have come. Illegitimate births are rare. 
The tone and self-respect of the work-people are much greater 
than that of factory-hands generally. Their wages are not high,- 
but they enable them to secure more of the comforts and decen- 



Prohibition in Maine. 393 

cies of life than they could elsewhere, owing to the facilities* 
placed within their reach, and the absence of drinking-houses." 

Tyrone County, Ireland, is also under strict Prohibitory 
Law. Of it, Lord Claude Hamilton said, at a public meet- 
ing, in 1870 : 

u I am here as representing the county, to assure you that the 
facts stated regarding the success of prohibition there are per- 
fectly accurate. There is a district in that county of sixty-one 
square miles, inhabited by nearly ten thousand people, having 
three great roads communicating with market towns, in which 
there are no public houses, entirely owing to the self-action of 
the inhabitants. The result has been that whereas those high- 
roads were in former times constant scenes of strife and drunk- 
enness, necessitating the presence of a very considerable num- 
ber of police to be located in the district, at present there is not 
a single policeman in that district, the poor-rates are half what 
they were before, and all the police and magistrates testify to 
the great absence of crime." 

So also of Bessbrook, Ireland, a town of about 4,000 in- 
habitants. John Grubb Richardson, a member of the 
Society of Friends, is sole proprietor of the town. " The 
distinguishing feature of the town, is the absence of drink- 
shops, and consequently the absence of crime, pauperism, 
pawn-shops, and policemen." 

In the United States the results have been none the less 
decisive and satisfactory. 

Maii^e has had the longest experience under Prohibition, 
and the success of the law is beyond all question. In his 
address to the Legislature, in 1874, Governor Dingley 
said : 

" This system has had a trial of only twenty-two years; yet 
its success in this brief period has, on the whole, been so much 
greater than that of any other plan yet devised, that prohibi- 
tion may be said to be accepted by a large majority of the 
people of this State as the proper rjolicy towards drinking- 
houses and tippling-shoj)S. 

" Where our prohibitory laws have been well enforced, few 
will deny that they have accomplished great good. In more 
than three-fourths of the State, especially in the rural portions. 



394 Alcohol in History. 

public sentiment has secured such an enforcement of these 
laws that there are now in these districts few open bars ; and 
even secret sales are so much reduced that drunkenness in the 
rural towns is comparatively rare." 

And again, to the Legislature, in 1875, he said : 
"The Attorney-General embodies in his report communica- 
tions from the several county attorneys, furnishing important 
official statements and statistics relating to the enforcement of 
the laws prohibiting drinking-kouses and tippling-shops. The 
statistics show that during the past year, in the Supreme Court 
alone, there have been 276 convictions, 41 commitments to jail, 
and $30,898 collected in fines under these laws — more of each 
than in any other year, and four times as many convictions and 
ten times as much in fines as in 1866, when the general enforce- 
ment of these laws was resumed after the close of the war, 
which had engrossed the public attention and energies. It is 
significant, also, that during these nine or ten years of gradually 
increasing efficiency in the enforcenieut of the laws against 
dram-shops, the number of convicts in the State Prison has 
fallen off more than one-fourth. 

" The report of the Attorney-General and the statistics ac- 
companying conclusively show that the laws prohibiting drink- 
ing-houses and tippling-shops have for the most part been 
enforced during the past year more generally and effectively 
than ever before, and with corresponding satisfactory results in 
the diminution of dram-shops and intemperance. These results 
are due, to a considerable extent, to the increased efficiency 
given to these laws by the sheriff-enforcement act, but more 
especially to the improved temperance sentiment which has 
been created by the moral efforts put forth in this State within 
a few years. It is gratifying to know that this sentiment has 
become so predominant as to secure the very general suppression 
of known dram-shops, and the consequent marked .mitigation 
of the evils of intemperance in four-fifths of the State.' 7 

Subsequently he published the following : 
"The recent amendments of the Maine law, prohibiting dram- 
shops, so as to increase the efficiency of its enforcement, are 
calling forth a shower of assaults on prohibition. So interested 
in our prohibition policy has become the whole country, that 
not only many of the Boston papers, but even the New York 
Times and Tribune, have joined in the cry that ' Prohibition is 
a failure in Maine. 7 In response to inquiries from all parts of 
the country, as to the truth of these allegations, we put on rec- 
ord the following significant facts : 



Prohibition in Maine. 395 

"1. The fact that our prohibitory system has stood in our 
statutes siuce 1851 — with the exception of two years (1856 and 
1857), when license was tried in its place— and has steadily in- 
creased in popularity until no party dares to go before the people 
on the issue of its repeal, is conclusive evidence that the great 
body of the people of Maine, who have had the best opportunity 
to judge of its practical workings, believe that it is the most effi- 
cient legal policy ever devised as a supplement of moral agencies 
in dealiug with the evils arising from the use and sale of intox- 
icating liquors. No one expects that it can take the place of 
moral agencies, but that it is simply an adjunct of them — just as 
law, prohibiting houses of ill-fame and gambling resorts, are 
adjuncts to moral means in promoting virtue. No one claims 
that it can entirely extirpate the dram-shop evil, any more than 
the laws prohibiting and punishing theft or murder can uproot 
these crimes. All these laws aid in removing temptation and 
in creating a healthier public sentiment, and make it easier to 
do right and harder to do wrong. 

" 2. Our prohibitory laws have unquestionably aided materi- 
ally in creating a better public sentiment in the matter of the 
use of intoxicating liquors than exists in any State which has a 
license law. "Whatever is prohibited by law, either directly or 
indirectly, is thereby deprived of a certain appearance of 
respectability which attaches to every thiug that is under legal 
protection. Mr. Eaper, the distinguished Englishman, who 
spent some time in Maine and other parts of this country a few 
years ago, stated in a public speech that he did not believe 
there was in the whole civilized world a State of like population 
so free as ours from the evils of intemperance, or one possessed 
of so healthy a public sentiment in the matter of the use of 
liquors as a beverage. 

" 3. Prohibition has stopped effectually the manufacture of dis- 
tilled and fermented liquors in .Maine. In 1830, when our popu- 
lation was less than two-thirds of what it is to-day, there were 
thirteen distilleries in this State, which manufactured over two 
gallons of rum to each inhabitant, nearly all of which was con- 
sumed in the State. To-day there is not a single distillery or 
brewery in Maine. 

"4. Prohibition has well-nigh stopped the traffic in intoxicat- 
ing liquors in the rural districts of Maine. Forty-live years ago 
all the country taverns had open bars, and all the country stores 
sold intoxicating liquors as freely as molasses or calico. For 
example, the town of Durham, with less than 1,500 inhabitants, 
had in 1832 seven licensed grog-shops. To-day there is not a 
drop of liquor sold in town. Readfield had in 1832 seven open 



3S6 Alcohol in History. 

"bars, at which were sold 2,300 gallons of spirits annually. Now 
none is sold to be used as a beverage. Minot (then including 
Auburn), with a population of 2,903 in 1833, had thirteen grog- 
shops. Now these towns, with a population of 10,000, have not 
a single place where liquor is known to be sold as a beverage. 

" 5. Fifty years ago, even in our rural districts, nearly every 
male drank liquor. Liquors were kept in most of the houses 
to treat callers. Nobody thought of having company, or a 
raising, without a supply of ardent spirits. At musters and 
other public gatherings, drunkenness and drunken affrays were 
common. Now, three-fourths of the males in the rural dis- 
tricts are total abstinents, and the practice of keeping liquors 
in houses to treat callers has practically ceased. It would be 
considered an unpardonable offence to furnish spirits at a pub- 
lic meeting. At large public gatherings, cases of intoxication 
are surprisingly few, and drunken altercations rare. This im- 
provement is strikingly shown by statistics. In 1833, Secretary 
Pond, of the Maine Temperance Association, reported that in 
the town of Alfred there were fifty-five men and three women 
accustomed to get beastly drunk ; in Kennebnnk, ninety-five 
notorious drunkards; in Topsham (population 1,564), forty 
drunkards ; in New Gloucester, forty ; Farmington, eighty ; 
Wayne, thirty. Recent reports from these towns show that the 
present number of notorious drunkards in these and other towns 
is not one-eighth, and many towns say not one-tenth, of what it 
was forty years age. The reports also show a marked improve- 
ment in the condition of the people. 

"6. In the cities and larger villages, representing less than 
one-fourth of the population of Maine, the improvement is less 
marked than in the rural districts, although undeniably real, 
even there. There are three reasons for this less marked im- 
provement : the greater facilities that vice has to hide itself in 
crowded populations; the concentration there of a large foreign 
population, which has come into this State within thirty years ; 
and the resort to the city of the drinking men, still left in the 
rural regions, for supplies of liquor. If the cities had simply 
held their own under these circumstances, it would be a great 
gain. But they have done more than this. As a rule, there are 
no open dram-shops even here. Occasionally, through the 
failure to elect both city officials and county sheriffs friendly to 
prohibition, the law is neglected and open dram-shops appear. 
That has been the case during the past year in two or three 
cities whose condition is being quoted to the exclusion of the 
large part of the State where the law is well enforced. But 
generally speaking, even in the cities intoxicating liquors are 



Prohibition in Maine. 397 

sold only surreptitiously, and are to be found only by those who 
know the signs and pass- words of the liquor fraternity — and 
then, mainly, in places kept by foreigners. There are few open 
dram-shops to tempt. In the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, 
with a population of nearly 30,000, there is not a single open 
dram-shop, and no hotel has even a secret bar. In the larger 
cities there are many cases of drunkenness, but a majority of 
them are of foreigners, who resort to the most desperate expe- 
dients to obtain a supply of liquor. As confirmed inebriates in 
the rural districts are obliged to resort to the cities to obtain 
their potations, it frequently happens that the police reports of 
a city like Portland show nearly all the cases of drunkenness 
for a populous county. 

" 7. The charge is frequently made that, so far as the cities 
are concerned, the traffic has been simply driven out of sight. 
Even if nothing more had been gained, it is something to banish 
the temptations of the dram-shop where only tho3e seeking them 
will find them. It is also occasionally alleged that club-rooms, 
more dangerous than dram-shops, have taken the place of the 
latter. After careful inquiry, we cannot learn that club-rooms 
exist outside of a few cities in Maine, and even there, not so 
extensively as in many cities of similar size in license States. 
The new amendments to the prohibitory law will reach this 
attempt to evade its provisions, and soon serve to make drinking 
clubs scarce. Setting aside the large foreign population in our 
cities, it is conceded that the improvement in the drinking 
habits of the remainder is marked. This is especially so with 
the bone and muscle of the native population. 

"8. It is difficult to obtain reliable statistics of the extent to 
which the surreptitious sale of liquors is still carried on in 
Maine. Some of the enemies of prohibition claim that a million 
and a quarter dollars' worth are sold here annually. But allow- 
ing even this, and we have $2 per inhabitant now, against $25 
per inhabitant forty years ago, and $16 per inhabitant as the 
average for the Union to-day. This shows that not more than 
one-tenth as much liquor, proportionally, is consumed in Maine 
as there was forty years ago, and not more than one-eighth as 
much as in the country at large to-day. 

•'On this point the revenue collected by the United States, 
from the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in Maine, 
in comparison with that collected in license States, sheds some 
light. Prohibitory Maine has about the same population as 
license New Jersey ; yet the liquor tax in the former State is 
only three cents per inhabitant, while in the latter State it is 
$2.40, and in the country at large $1.83. In reply to the asser- 



398 Alcohol in History. 

tion that tobacco and opimn-eating are taking the place of 
liquor-drinking in Maine, we may mention that the tobacco tax 
paid by Maine is only seventeen cents per inhabitant, while the 
average for the country is $1 per inhabitant ; and that opium- 
eating is far less prevalent here than in other Eastern States. 

" 9. While it is undeniable that great temperance progress has 
been made in Maine with the help of our prohibitory policy, 
yet no one claims that either the sale or use of intoxicating 
liquors has been banished from our borders. They have been 
greatly limited, and the great body of the people recognize our 
prohibitory laws as essential aids in this good work. But much 
remains to be done. Experience is showing weak spots in our 
laws, and from time to time these are being strengthened. The 
recent amendments will increase the efficiency of the laws, and 
secure better results. In spite of jeers, in spite of opposition, 
in spite of declarations that the temperance cause is retrograd- 
ing instead of advancing, the good work will go on in Maine, 
and year by year will show new triumphs in the great battle 
against King Alcohol." 

And still more recently, he has published the following : 

"In 1830, thirteen distilleries in the State manufactured one 
million gallons of rum (two gallons to each inhabitant,) together 
with 300,000 gallons imported — not including cider and other 
fermented liquors. Now there is not a distillery or brewery in 
the State. In 1833 there were 500 taverns, all but 40 of them 
having open bars. Now there is not a tavern in the State with 
an open bar, and not one in ten of them sells liquor secretly. 
In 1830 every store sold liquor as freely as molasses ; now, not 
one. 

" In 1832, with a population of only 450,000, there were 2,000 
places where intoxicating liquors were sold — one grog-shop to 
every 225 of the population. Their sales amounted to $10,000,000 
annually, or $20 for each inhabitant. Last year the aggregate 
sales of 100 town agencies was $100,000, or fifteen cents per inhab- 
itant. Including clandestine sales, even the enemies of temper- 
ance do not claim that the aggregate sales in the State exceed 
$1,000,000, less that $2 per inhabitant. This is but one-tenth 
what the sales were forty years ago, and but one-eiglitli what 
they are on the average in the remainder of the Union, which is 
$16 per inhabitant. Liquor-selling is almost wholly confined to 
the five or six cities of the State, so that hard drinkers are com- 
pelled to journey thither for their drams. Hence most of the 
drunkenness of the State is concentrated in those cities where 
the police arrest all persons under the influence of strong drink, 



Prohibition in Maine. 399 

making the number of arrests for drunkenness seem large in 
comparison with places where few arrests are made for this 
offence. 

" In 1855 there were 10,000 persons (one out of every forty- 
live of the population) accustomed to get beastly drunk ; there 
were 200 deaths from delirium tremens annually (equivalent to 
300 now ; ) there were 1,500 paupers (equivalent to 2,200 now) 
made thus by drink ; there were 300 convicts in State prison 
and jails (equivalent to 450 now; ) and intemperance was de- 
stroying a large proportion of the homes throughout the State. 
Now not one in 300 of the population is a drunkard — not one- 
sixth as many ; the deaths from delirium tremens annually are 
not fifty ; and criminals and paupers (not including rumsellers) 
are largely reduced, notwithstanding the great influx of for- 
eigners and tramps." 

The Hon. W. P. Frye, member of Congress from the Lewiston 
district, and ex- Attorney-General of Maine, aleo (1872) writes : 
"I can and do, from my own personal observation, unhesitat- 
ingly affirm that the consumption of intoxicating liquors in 
Maine is not to-day one-fourth so great as it was twenty years 
ago ; that, in the country portions of the State, the sale and use 
have almost entirely ceased; that the law itself, under a vigorous 
enforcement of its provisions, has created a temperance senti- 
ment which is marvellous, and to which opposition is powerless. 
In my opinion, our remarkable temperance reform of to-day is 
the legitimate child of the law." 

The Hon. Lot M. Morrill, United States Senator from Maine, 
writes: U I have the honor unhesitatingly to concur in the 
opinions expressed in the foregoing by my colleague, Hon. Mr. 
Frye." 

The Hon. J. G. Blaine, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, writes: " I concur in the foregoing statements; and on 
the point of the relative amount of liquor sold in Maine and in 
those States where a system of license prevails, I am very sure, 
from personal knowledge and observation, that the sales are 
immeasurably less in Maine." 

The Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, United States Senator and ex- 
Vice-President of the United States, writes : "I concur in the 
statements made by Mr Frye. In the great good produced by 
the Prohibitory Liquor Law of Maine, no man can doubt who 
has seen its result. It has been of immense value." 

The Hon. John A. Peters, the Hon. John Lynch, and the Hon. 
Eugene Hall, members of Congress from Maine, substantiate the 
foregoing testimony. 



400 Alcohol in History. 

Mr. Frye further testifies : 

" The ' Maine Law' has not been a failure in that, 1st, It lias 
made rumselling a crime, so that only the lowest and most 
debased will now engage in it. 2d, The rum-buyer is a partici- 
pator in a crime, and the large majority of moderate respect- 
able drinkers have become abstainers. 3d, It has gradually 
created a public sentiment against both selling and drinking. 
4th, In all of the country portions of the State, where, twenty 
years ago, there was a grocery or tavern at every four corners, 
and within a circuit of two miles unpainted houses, broken 
windows, neglected farms, poor school-houses, broken hearts 
and homes, it has banished almost every such grocery and 
tavern, and introduced peace, plenty, happiness, and prosperity. 
These two things, making the rum-traffic disgraceful both to 
seller and buyer, the renovating and reforming of all the coun- 
try portion of the State, are the worthy and well-earned trophies 
of our Maine Liquor Law, and commend it to the prayers 
and good wishes of all good citizens. ... Of this law I 
have been prosecuting attorney for ten years, and cheerfully 
bear witness to its efficiency, whenever and wherever faithfully 
administered. It has done more good than any law ou our 
statute-book, and is still at work. With its provisions you can 
effectually close every- liquor-shop outside your cities, and in 
them make the selling of ardent spirits a very dangerous and 
risky business. There cannot be found a man in Maine, who is 
not prejudiced by reason of being a seller, or drinker to excess 
or by party passion, who will not concur with me in saying that 
its blessings have been incalculable, nor a respectable woman 
who does not pray for its continuance. Thus briefly I hav3 
given my testimony, and I know whereof I affirm." 

Hon. Woodbury Davis, Judge of the Supreme Court' of 
the State of Maine, thus replies to the charge that " the 
Maine Law is a failure : " 

" So its opponents have often alleged. ' The wish is father to 
the thought.' So its friends sometimes have almost conceded. 
They have been too easily discouraged. They have hoped for 
results too large, and too soon ; and they have been disappointed. 
The law has not been a failure. It has already accomplished 
great results, though it has but just passed the ordeal of politi- 
cal agitation and judicial construction, in its struggle for per- 
manent life. Every new system, though it may ride prosper- 
ously in its first success, is subject to the law of reaction. It 
must enter the lists, and conquer the place it would hold. The 



Prohibition in Maine. 401 

Maine Law has been no exception. Even in Maine, as we shall 
see, its friends have been, and still are, compelled to spend 
mucb of their strength in wringing from its enemies amend- 
ments needed for its success, instead of giving their time for its 
enforcement. Much has been done in this respect since the law 
was originally enacted ; but some things remain yet to be done. 
The period of growth is not the time for fruit, especially when 
the whole country has been swept by the storm of civil strife. 
That as much has been accomplished as ought to have been ex- 
pected, an examination of the circumstances will show." 

" The Maine Law, in its prohibitory form, but without the 
search and seizure clauses, was first enacted in this State in 
1846. This first law was extensively enforced ; and it prepared 
the way for that of 1851. Before that time, the old Temperance 
reform, and the Washingtonian movement, hud each success- 
ively reached its climax. And, notwithstanding all the good 
that was done in reforming the habits of the people, there were 
still large numbers accustomed to use intoxicating liquors j and 
there was really no legal restraint upon the sale. It was per- 
mitted in almost every town ; nearly every tavern, in country 
and in city, had its "bar," at almost every village and " corner" 
was a grog-shop : and, in most places of that kind, more than 
one, where old men and young, spent their earnings in dissipa- 
tion ; men helplessly drunk in the streets, and by the wayside, 
were a common sight ; and at elections, at military trainings and 
musters, and at other public gatherings, there were scenes of 
debauchery and riot enough to make one ashamed of his race. 

"What has become of this mass of corruption and disgusting 
vice ? It seems so much like some horrid dream of the past that 
we can hardly realize that it was real and visible until twenty 
years ago. The Maine Law has swept it away forever. In 
some of our cities something of the kind may still be seen. But in 
three-fourths of the towns in this State such scenes would now 
no more be tolerated than would the revolting orgies of savages. 
A stranger may pass through, stop at a hotel in each city, walk 
the streets in some of them, and go away with the belief that 
our law is a failure. But no observing man who has lived in 
the State for twenty years, and has had an opportunity to know 
the facts, can doubt that the Maine Law has produced a hun- 
dred times more visible improvement in the character, condi- 
tion, and prosperity of our people than any other law that was 
ever enacted." 

Hon. Xeal Dow, in a speech made in July, 1875, said : 

"They say the Maine Law has failed, even in Maine. Now, 
26 



402 Alcohol in History. 

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, there is not a word of 
truth in that ; it is all false from beginning to end. The Maine 
Law has not failed, directly or indirectly. Is there not any 
liquor sold in Maine or in any of the other Maine-Law States ? 
Yes, there is; but you do not infer, therefore, that it is a failure. 
If you can show that there is as much liquoT sold in proportion 
to the population with the same effect as there was before the 
Maine Law, that would show the law to be a failure. But in the 
State of Maine there is not one-tenth part as much of liquor 
sold as there was before the Maine Law. The whole character 
of the population is changed, as the result of that law. There is 
liquor sold in Maine, but only secretly. I live in the largest 
town in Maine, and you see no sign of liquor-selling anywhere 
at all. If one went into a hotel and asked for a glass of liquor, 
I do not know but that a person who knew the ropes might get 
it. They declare, however, that they honestly keep the law, 
and apparently they do. Wherever liquor is suspected of being 
kept with intent to sell in violation of law, the officers search 
for it and seize it. Every two or three days we have some seiz- 
ure, but usually in very small quantities — a quart, a gallon, and 
sometimes only the bottle from the pocket of a man who intends 
to sell that way. 

" I remember the time when there were seven distilleries in 
Portland, running night and day ; at the same time vast quan- 
tities of liquor were imported, especially in the ship Margaret, 
one of the most famous ships in New England, whose cargo of 
St. Croix rum was spread out upon the wharves. How is it 
now ? We have not a distillery running in all the State of 
Maine, nor is there a puncheon of rum imported. I should be 
warranted in saying that there is not one-fiftieth part of the 
quantity of liquor* sold now as was sold previous to the passage 
of the prohibitory law, but I will say one-tenth. Senators and 
representatives in Congress, judges of courts, ministers and 
merchants, have signed certificates which were sent to England, 
in which they say the quantity of liquor sold is not one-tenth so 
great as was sold before." 

So, writing to the " Advance" in the fall of 1880, Mr. 
Dow says : 

"The evasions of the law are confined almost entirely to the 
cities and larger towns, which contain a considerable foreign 
population. The secret rum-shops that exist more or less in these 
places, are kept almost exclusively by those people. These 
shops continue in their illicit trade for lack of a few additions 
to the law, which we shall obtain by-and-by. The distilleries, 



Prohibition in Massachusetts. 403 

breweries, and wine factories are all suppressed; there is not 
one remaining in the State. There were many of them formerly. 
In the smaller towns, villages, and rural districts of the State, 
the liquor traffic is quite unknown. Before the law it existed 
all over the State, on a large scale, wholesale and retail. The 
penalties of the law, as they now are, suffice to suppress en- 
tirely the rum-shops in small towns. One fine of a hundred 
dollars will use up a country rumseller ; but in the larger cities it 
will require longer terms of jail to do it, in addition to the fines. 
The benefits resulting from the law are so great and manifest, that 
there is no organized or respectable opposition to it, in any 
quarter, or by any party. " 

Massachusetts, has reached similar results. In a 
report made to the Senate of that State, in 1865, one of the 
ablest lawyers in the Commonwealth said: 

u This prohibitory statute, known in its earliest form as the 
Maine Law, is the fruit of much experience, avoids the practical 
difficulties discovered by hostile lawyers in the earlier statutes, is 
minute, thorough, and comprehensive, and is believed to be the 
only criminal law where the Legislature has provided forms 
of proceedings : in short, as those who have administered it 
have testified, it is as perfect as a criminal statute well can 
be." 

Said the Constable of the Commonwealth : " Up to the 6th 
of November (1867), there was not an open bar known in the 
entire State, and the open retail liquor traffic had almost en- 
tirely ceased. The traffic, as such, had generally secluded itself 
to such an extent that it was no longer a public, open offence, 
and no longer an inviting temptation to the passer-by." 

In a Circular issued by that official, in Oct. 1867, he said : 
" To us who are daily observers of the effects of these prosecu- 
tions, the fact is not to be winked at or argued out of sight, 
that very many of the liquor-dealers are utterly discouraged, 
and were it not for the hope that the approaching elections may 
afford them some relief, they would at once abandon the 
traffic." 

This hope was based on the organization of all interested 
in the liquor traffic, and the lavish use of money in the 
effort to elect an anti-prohibitory Legislature. The effort 
succeeded, but prior to the election, an address to the 
People was put forth by Revs. Gilbert Haven, A. A. 



404 Alcohol in History. 

Miner, E. P. Marvin, and Judge Pitman, containing facts 
in regard to the Prohibitory Law and its operation, which 
it was impossible to controvert. The Address said : 

" The Prohibitory Law went into effect in all the towns of the 
Commonwealth. It was executed in every city except Charles- 
town and Boston. It received the approval of every legislature. 
It was carried up to our Supreme Court, and received the in- 
dorsement of Chief- Justice Shaw and his associates. It was 
attacked in Congress and in the Supreme Court of the Uuited 
States, and both the national legislature and natioual court 
recoguized its legality. While thus assailed by interested ene- 
mies, it was carrying blessings through all the Commonwealth. 
Three-fourths of our towns, including nearly every small vil- 
lage aud most of our large towns, were without any public 
bars. Almost a generation has grown up in these places with- 
out beholding the open sale of intoxicating spirits. 

"As a consequence of this law, pauperism and crime had 
greatly decreased in all localities where it was observed. In 
not a few of even our largest towns the alms-house had become 
an obsolete institution. 

" The State constabulary was established, and has suppressed 
the sale of spirits in many of our cities, and greatly reduced it 
in the city of Boston. During the last two years it has closed 
hundreds of dram-shops. It has abolished more than twenty- 
five hundred open bars in this city. It has paid into the trea- 
sury of the State within the nine months ending Oct. 1st, 1867, 
in fines, $199,421 64 ; in value of liquors seized and sold, not 
less than $40,000 — a sum amounting to one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars more than all the expenses of the police." 

The testimony of Major Jones, formerly chief of State 
Police, was: 

" The law is as well enforced generally through the State as 
any other law ; but m Boston the liquor-sellers and dealers 
spend money freely and are well organized. There are about 
three hundred and sixty towns, and in three hundred of them 
the law is well enforced, and it exercises an influence upon the 
others." 

General B. F. Butler said: "This law was enforced in all 
the cities and towns, with the exception of a few of the larger 
cities, as much and as generally as the laws against larceny." 

Rev. Wm. M. Thayer, Secretary of the State Alliance, 
says : 



Prohibition in Massachusetts. 405 

" Previous to the November election of 1867, the State constables 
enforced the Prohibitory Law so thoroughly in Boston, that the 
tax on liquors at the internal revenue district No. 3, including 
most of the rumselling portion of the city, was reduced from 
$22,000 per month to $6,000. The month immediately succeed- 
ing the election, the receipts at the same office on liquors 
advanced again to nearly $22,000, showing that a great incubus 
was lifted from the traffic by the license triumph. 

"The positive testimony of over 250 towns in the State visited 
since last November by myself or some of the agents of the 
Alliance, is to the very marked increase of intemperance. 
Even the smaller and more retired rural districts have not es- 
caped the direful consequences of ' free rum. 7 In one small 
town, situated five miles from the nearest railroad station, on a 
Saturday night just previous to our visit, eleven intoxicated 
men were counted upon the principal street. The oldest inhab- 
itant remembers no such scene of intoxication as that. 

"In the county of Suffolk, on the 1st of September, 1867, there 
were less than 900 places where liquor was sold, and most of 
these clandestinely. On the first day of September, 1868, nearly 
2,500 liquor shops were opened on the same territory, a fact 
which proves how utterly false was the plea of the license 
advocates, that their object was to diminish the traffic." 

Oliver Ames and Son, one of the largest business firms 
in Massachusetts, said: 

"We have over 400 men in our works here. We find that the 
present License Law has a very bad effect among our employees. 
We find on comparing our production in May and June of this 
year (1868), with that of the corresponding months of last year 
(1867), that in 1867, with 375, we produced eight (8) per cent, 
more goods than we did in the same months in 1868 with 400 
men. We attribute this large falling off entirely to the repeal 
of the Prohibitory Law and the large increase in the use of in- 
toxicating drinks among our men in consequence. " 

Governor Claflin, in his message to the Legislature, 
January, 1869, said : 

"The increase of drunkenness and crime during the last six 
months, as compared with the same period of 1867, is very 
marked and decisive as to the operation of the law. The State 
prisons, jails, and houses of correction are being rapidly filled, 
and will soon require enlarged accommodation if the commit- 
ments continue to increase as they have since the present law 
went into force. r 



406 Alcohol in History. 

The Chaplain of the State Prison, in his Annual Report 
for 18G8, says : 

" The prison never has been so full as at the present time. 
If the rapidly increasing tide of intemperance, so greatly swollen 
by the present wretched license law, is suffered to rush on un- 
checked, there will be a fearful increase of crime, and the State 
must soon extend the limits of the prison, or erect another." 

The Chief Constable of the Commonwealth, in his An- 
nual Report for 1869, said : 

"This law has opened and legalized in the various cities and 
towns about two thousand five hundred open bars ; and over 
one thousand other places where liquors are presumed not to 
be sold by the glass." 

The Legislature re-enacted the Prohibitory Law ; but in 
1870 it made a fatal exception in favor of the sale of beer; 
but returned to the policy of entire prohibition in 1873. 
In his Report, January, 1874, the Chief of State Police 
said : 

tl The law is only partially enforced, but in one-half the towns 
it has entirely suppressed the sale. There are five hundred less 
places in Boston for the sale of liquor than there were two 
years ago." 

The District Attorney for Suffolk County bore witness 
that: 

" The law is enforced generally throughout the State in the 
country towns, and with good effect. The shutting up of the 
open bar is certainly productive of a great reduction in drink- 
ing." 

Judge Pitman, writing on the practical working of the 
law in New Bedford, and showing from official reports, a 
decrease of 37 per cent, in cases of drunkenness under pro- 
hibition, and an increase of 140 per cent, in cases of drunk- 
enness when license prevailed, deduced the following con- 
clusions : 

" First. It has been fully demonstrated that the prohibitory 
law can be enforced to the same extent as other criminal laws. 
" Second. That such enforcement would be productive of the 



Prohibition in Bhode Island. 407 

diminution of crime in general, and the promotion of peace and 
good order in our communities. 

" Third. That this can be effected by electing men to do it, and 
in no other way. 

11 Fourth. That to allow the sale of malt liquors is a complete 
surrender of the battle, and opens the door to all the evils of a 
free liquor traffic." 

Of the working of the Prohibitory Law in Vekmoot, 
Governor Peck, also Judge of the Supreme Court of that 
State, says: 

" In some parts of the State there has been a laxity in enforc- 
ing it, but in other parts of the State it has been thoroughly 
enforced, and there it has driven the traffic out. I think the 
influence of the law has been salutary in diminishing drunken- 
ness and disorders arising therefrom, and also crimes generally. 
You cannot change the habits of a people momentarily. The 
law has had an effect upon our customs, and has done away 
with that of treating and promiscuous drinking. The law has 
been aided by moral means, but moral means have also been 
wonderfully strengthened by the law. 

" I think the law is educating the people, and that a much 
larger number now support it than when it was adopted; in 
fact, the opposition is dying out. All the changes in the law 
have been in the direction of greater stringency. In attending 
court for ten years, I do not remember to have seen a drunken 
man." 

Governor Con vers said : 

"The prohibitory law has been in force about twenty-two 
years. The enforcement has been uniform in the State since its 
enactment, and I consider it a very desirable law. I think the 
law itself educates and advances public sentiment in favor of 
temperance. There is no question about the decrease in the 
consumption of liquor. I speak from personal knowledge, hav- 
ing always lived in the State. I live in Woodstock, sixty miles 
from here, and there no man having the least regard for himself 
would admit selling rum, even though no penalty attached to 
it." 

In Rhode Island, Governor Howard, addressing a 
Temperance Convention, said : 

"lam here to-night especially for the purpose of saying, not 
from the standpoint of a temperance man; but as a public man, 



408 Alcohol in History. 

with a full sense of the responsibility which attaches to me 
from my representative position, that to-day the prohibitory 
laws of this State, if not a complete success, are a success be- 
yond the fondest anticipation of any friend of temperance, in 
my opinion. 

" Ladies and gentlemen, prohibitory legislation in Ehode 
Island is a success to a marvellous extent. I have desired, I 
have felt it incumbent upon me to make that declaration, aud I 
desire that it shall go abroad as my solemn assertion." 

The Providence Journal said, just after the law went in- 
to effect : 

" Whatever may be the ultimate results of the prohibitory 
and constabulary acts, it cannot be denied that up to this time 
their working has been rather salutary. There may be as much 
liquor drunk in private club-rooms and other out-of-the-way 
places as formerly, but if it is so the dealers are clearly taking 
pains to keep their workmanship out of sight. There has not 
been for years such an exemption from the indecencies of intox- 
ication in our streets and the highways of our villages, as we 
have enjoyed for the last two months." 

Similar results were also noticeable in Ccxn^ecticttt. 
Governor Dutton said of the law, after it had been in oper- 
ation a few months : 

"The law has been thoroughly executed, with much less diffi- 
culty and opposition than was expected. In no instance has a 
seizure produced any general excitement. Resistance to the 
law would be unpopular, and it has been found in vain to set it 
at defiance." 

In 1855, in his annual message to the General Assem- 
bly, Governor Dutton said : 

"There is scarcely an open grog-shop in the State, the jails 
are fast becoming tenantless, and a delightful air of security is 
everywhere enjoyed." 

Governor Miller, in 1856, said : 

"From, my own knowledge, and from information from all 
parts of the State, I have reason to believe that the law has 
been enforced, and the daily traffic in liquors has been broken 
up and abandoned." 

Rev. Dr. Bacon of New Haven, after the law had 
been in operation one year, said : 



Prohibition a Success. 409 

" The operation of the Prohibitory Law for one year is a mat- 
ter of observation to all the inhabitants. Its effect in promoting 
peace, order, quiet, and general prosperity, no man can deny. 
Never for twenty years lias our city oeen so quiet as under its action. 
It is no longer simply a question of temperance, but a govern- 
mental question — one of legislative foresight and morality." 

Edwards County, Illinois, decided twenty-five years ago, 
that no liquor should be sold in their territory. Eecently 
the Circuit Court says : 

" There has not been a licensed saloon in this county for over 
twenty-five years. During that time our jail has not averaged 
one occupant. This county never sent but one person to the 
penitentiary, and that man was sent up for killing his wife while 
drunk on whiskey obtained from a licensed saloon in another 
county. We have very few paupers in our poor-house — some- 
times only three or four. Our taxes are about 35 per cent, lower 
than they are in adjoining counties where saloons are licensed. 
Our people are prosperous, peaceable and sober, there being 
very little drinking except near Grayville, a license town of 
White county, near our border. The different terms of our cir- 
cuit court occupv three or four days each year, and the dockets 
are cleared. Our people are so well satisfied with the present 
state of things that a very large majority would bitterly oppose 
an effort made toward license under any circumstances." 

In Tennessee the laws prohibit the establishment of the 
liquor trade within " four miles of chartered educational in- 
stitutions which are not located in incorporated towns." 
Desiring to rid themselves of the curse of the traffic, the 
town of Tazewell had their charter abolished, that they 
might come under the beneficent operation of this law. A 
correspondent of the Morristown Gazette, after mentioning 
among the immediate results, " a noticeable diminution of 
drunkenness, rowdyism, quarrelling, and profanity/' adds : 

1 ' Men are improving their property ; people — good citizens — are 
moving into town; citizens who have long endured this curse 
are encouraged to plan for the future, and invest accordingly. 
The people of the county are likewise encouraged; have hope 
that the moral debasement occasioned by this iniquitous traffic 
will soon be reformed, and that law and order will] again pre- 
vail." 



410 Alcohol in History. 

Quite recently, Thomas Hughes, Esq., of England, find- 
ing the best interests of the colony which he is establishing 
in Tennessee, interfered with by the persistence of liquor- 
sellers in plying their business in the vicinity of his settle- 
ment, has availed himself of this law, established a char- 
tered school, and so delivered his people from the nuisance. 
The latest information in regard to Tennessee Laws is 
from the pen of Mr. A. A. Hubbard, of that State, and 
published in " The National Temperance Advocate," for 
January, 1881 : 

u Some twelve years since the Legislature of Tennessee en- 
acted that license should not be granted for the sale of intoxi- 
cating drinks within six miles of any blast furnace in this 
State, which law has proved of great advantage to the numer- 
ous blast-furnaces within our borders. Again, five years ago, 
our Legislature further enacted that the sale of intoxicating 
liquors should not be licensed within four miles of any chartered 
academy in this State, and also that any of our common or 
district schools might charter as such by making due applica- 
tion to the Secretary of State, which application must be signed 
by at least five persons, who propose to become trustees of the 
said chartered academy; and the result is that very many of our 
counties are so honey-combed by chartered schools that there 
is no room left in which to set up a groggery ; and still the 
chartering goes on at a rajrid rate, and if academies are a sure 
index of intelligence, we hid fair to soon outstrip the New 
England States. A very interesting feature of this business is that 
the greatest proportion of schools are being chartered in locali- 
ties where moonshining has been very common, and where even 
now very few men can be found who would sign a temperance 
pledge ; and when asked why they apply for the chartering of 
their schools, reply that it is for the protection of their children. 

" Our Supreme Court has decided that whenever a school is 
chartered all licenses for the sale of liquors within four miles of 
the said school-houses at once become void; and as the penalty 
for a violation is one hundred dollars and three months in a work- 
house or jail, many a vender of the vile stuff at once removes to 
a portion of the county where there is room to sell for the re- 
mainder of the time for which he was licensed; but very often 
the people of that locality will at once proceed to charter their 
school, and so, like Noah's dove, he finds no resting-place. 

'• Another feature of this law is that it is inoperative within 



yn a Duccess. 411 

the bounds of a chartered city or village, and in consequence of 
this, very many — I think between fifty and seventy— of our 
chartered villages, during the last session of the Legislature, sur- 
rendered their charters, and, as in many of them there were 
already chartered high-schools, the mm sellers beat a hasty 
retreat. " 

Potter County , Pennsylvania, has been under a Pronibi- 
tory law many years. Hon. John S. Mann, bears this 
testimony to the results of its operation : 

" There it stands, a shield to all the youth of the county 
against the temptation to form drinking habits. Under its be- 
nign influence the number of tipplers is steadily decreasing, and 
fewer young men begin to drink than when licensed houses 
gave respectability to the habit. There are but few people who 
keep liquor in their houses for private use, and there is no indi- 
cation that the number of them is increased since the traffic was 
prohibited. The law is as readily enforced as are the laws against 
gambling, licentiousness, and others of similar character. 

"Its effect as regards crime is marked and consj)icuous. 
Our jail is without inmates, except the sheriff, for more than half 
the time. When liquors were legally sold, there were always 
more or less prisoners in the jail." 

The same is true of Caroline County, Maryland. Mr. 
Emerson, of Denton, says of its operation : 

" There is not a drop of alcoholic stimulants sold in this county, 
and the contrast between the past and present is a wonder to those 
accustomed to behold the scenes of but a few years ago and now. 
Instead of wranglings, black eyes and bloody noses, enmity and 
strife, drunken brawls and midnight debauchery, we have a 
peaceful and quiet community here and throughout the entire 
county. 

" At the late sitting of the grand jury for this county there 
was not a single case of assault and battery before them, nor a 
single complaint of a violation of the public peace. Our jail is 
without a tenant, and has been for the past six months. .At the 
recent session of our circuit court, had it not been for the old 
business which had accumulated under the whiskey reign, the 
term would not have lasted three days. The operation of the 
law has wrought a complete revolution here, and it is the great- 
est boon ever conferred upon our people by legislative enact- 
ment. It is a rare sight now to see any one under the influence 
of strong drink. Before the operation of the law, it was almost 



412 Alcohol in History. 

an hourly occurrence to come in contact with some one in this 
bestial condition. * 

At Vineland, New Jersey, a colony was commenced by 
Mr. Landis, in 1861. From the first he determined that 
the territory should not be cursed by the liquor traffic. He 
says, in an article prepared for and published in Fraser's 
Magazine for January, 1875, that he is not a total abstinence 
man, nor did he impose this condition of refraining from 
the traffic, on tlie pail of those who purchased his land, 
from any philanthropic principle, but wholly as a business 
operation, and u solely as it would affect the industrial suc- 
cess of his settlement. 77 He had observed that the tavern 
was the consumer of the industry of its patrons, and the 
enemy of their homes. And as his own success " depended 
directly on the success of each individual who should buy 
a farm " from him, so whatever militated against that suc- 
cess, must be forbidden. He " had long perceived that 
there was no such thing as reaching the result by moral 
influence brought to bear on single individuals; that to 
benefit an entire community the law or regulation would 
have to extend to the entire community. 77 u In the first 
place, I decided to theorize and reason with nobody. . „ . 
I would make the fixed principles of my plans of improve- 
ment the subject of contract, to be signed and sealed. 77 

This settlement numbers a population of 10,500, who 
have come to it from all parts of America, from Germany, 
France, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Mark the sig- 
nificant result of Prohibition among such a people. The 
Constable and Overseer of the Poor, in his Eeport for 1874, 
says : 

" Though we have a population of ten thousand people, for 
the period of six months no settler or citizen of Vineland has 
received relief at my hands as overseer of the poor. Within 
seventy days there has been only one case, among what we call 
the floating population, at the expense of $4. 

" During the entire year there has only been one indictment, 
and that a trifling case of battery among our colored popula- 
tion. 



Prohibition a Success. 413 

11 So few are the fires in Yineland that we have no need of a 
fire department. There has been only one honse burned in a 
year, and two slight fires, which were soon pnt out. 

" We practically have no debt, and our taxes are only one 
per cent, on the valuation. 

" The police expanses of Yineland amount to $75 a year, the 
sum paid to me ; and our poor expenses a mere trifle. 

" I ascribe this remarkable state of things, so nearly ap- 
proaching the golden age, to the industry of our people and the 
absence of King Alcohol.' 7 

A more recent colony, founded upon temperance prin- 
ciples, with a perpetual proviso against liquor traffic, is 
Greeley, Colorado. Like Yineland, it has a miscellaneous 
population, about 3,000, and is rapidly increasing in num- 
bers. Efforts have from time to time been made to intro- 
duce the sale of alcoholic beverages, but with little success. 
Not long after the colony was founded, a fair was held, 
and the proceeds ($91) put into a fund for the poor. Two 
years and a half afterwards there still remained of this 
fund unappropriated and with no calls therefor, $84. Mean- 
while, several churches, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, 
and Episcopal, three schools, tw^o banks, several extensive 
stores, tw T o weekly journals and one monthly, and two 
literary societies, have been established, and are in a 
flourishing condition. N. 0. Meeker, Esq., of the Greeley 
Tribune , projector of the colony, writes, Sept., 1873 : 

" No liquor is sold in the town nor on the colony domain. A 
rum-shop was started the first year, and it was burned down in 
broad daylight. A few months ago one was opened five miles 
from town, and one night all the liquor was destroyed." 

Similar testimony in regard to the success of Prohibition 
in these and other localities, might be almost indefinitely 
multiplied. It has never failed to diminish crime and pau- 
perism, and has always secured and increased prosperity 
and comfort.* 

* See The Prohibitionist's Text Book : "Alcohol and the State," 
and the " Argument of A. A. Miner, D. D., before the Committee 
of the Massachusetts Legislature, April 2, 1867."' 



414 Alcohol in History, 

II. The efficiency and success of Prohibitory Laws is 
further evident in the opposition of the various branches of 
the liquor traffic to them. " The United States Brewers' 
Association " was organized in 1862, " To foster and pro- 
tect the trade from many threatening dangers." Their 
subsequent proceedings show that those dangers are 
chiefly two 5 viz.: Prohibitory Legislation, and heavy 
taxes levied by the General Government. The introduc- 
tion to their Constitution, contains the following significant 
declarations : 

" That the owners of breweries, separately, are unable to exer- 
cise a proper influence in the interest of the craft in the Legisla- 
ture and public administration. 

" That it appears especially necessary for the brewing trade 
that its interests be vigorously and energetically prosecuted be- 
fore the legislative and executive departments, as this branch 
of business is of considerable political and financial importance, 
touching national interests generally, and exerting a direct as 
well as an indirect influence on political and social relations. 

" Finally, that the truth, based upon the experience of all 
civilized nations generally, should be vindicated — that the use 
of fermented beverages prevents intemperance and promotes 
real temperance, and thus the manoeuvres of the temperance 
party, which aims at the suppression of freedom of conscience 
and of trade, be defeated." 

At the opening of the seventh session, in 1867, the pre- 
siding officer said : 

"The Association is opposed by a dangerous foe, who, 
with a display of means and i^ower, not only endeavors to 
hinder the development of our trade, but threatens utterly 
to destroy it. It will, therefore, be necessary to immediately 
come to some conclusion which will give evidence of the strength, 
energy and x^erseverance with which we follow our purpose, and 
thereby exert such a pressure upon our Legislatures, that an al- 
teration or revocation of the obnoxious law may be expected." 

The following resolution was also adopted : 

" Whereas, The action and influence of the temperance party 
is in direct opposition to the principles of individual freedom 
and political equality, upon which our American Union is found- 
ed, therefore, 



Prohibition a Success. 415 

u Resolved, That wo will use all means to stay tlie progress of 
this fanatical party, and to secure our individual rights as citi- 
zens, and that we will sustain no candidate, of whatever party, 
in any election, who is in any way disposed toward the total 
abstinence cause." 

At the eighth session, 1868, they 

"Resolved, That we will continue in the future, as we have in 
the past, to battle for the promotion of the cause of civil and 
religious liberty throughout the United States, that we will use 
all honorable means to deprive the political and puritanical 
temperance men of the power they have so long exercised in the 
councils of the political parties in this country, and that for 
that purpose we will support no candidate for any office who is 
identified with this illiberal and narrow-minded element. 

"Resolved, That an effective organization of brewers and of their 
business friends should be maintained in every State and coun- 
ty, and that the same should act in concert with every other 
society and organization whose object is to uphold and promote 
the cause of civil and religious liberty, and that a committee of 
five be appointed for each State, with full power to organize 
local societies and call a State Convention whenever necessary. 

"Resolved, That we will patronize and sustain all papers 
advocating the same views entertained by us, and that we will 
use our best exertions to bring to the notice of our enlightened 
American public the great advantage this country would de- 
rive from a settled governmental policy adopted in accordance 
with our views." 

In 1869, they u reiterated and affirmed " the above, " as 
our standing creed and unchangeable purpose." 
In 1871, they also " reiterate : n 

" Whereas, Fanatics and religious hypocrites continue their 
open and avowed agitation for restrictive and sumptuary laws 
against the use of malt and fermented liquors as a beverage ; 

"Resolved, That we reiterate," (etc., etc., as by the 8th Ses- 
sion, 1868.) 

" Resolved, That in order to carry out the views and the ob- 
jects expressed in the said preamble and resolutions, the 
mittee on Agitation is hereby authorized and directed to select 
in each Congressional District, three brewers, residing therein, 
as a Local and Provisional Organizing Committee for such dis- 
tricts, whose duty it shall be, upon accepting such appointment, 
to organize, by means best suited to the locality, as they may 



416 Alcohol in History. 

determine in their discretion, all the 'defenders of the rights of 
man, of the liberty of conscience and the inviolability of the 
guaranteed rights of person and property/ in order to defeat 
at all elections any candidate for -office, whose success might 
give encouragement to temperance fanatics and religious hypo- 
crites to carry out their proposed prescriptive, injurious and 
dangerous plans. These local-district organizations are farther 
requested to agitate the question of a liberal change in the laws 
of their locality for a proper licensing system, for adequate 
police regulations, for the better j>rotection of our trade and all 
those in any way engaged in it, and for the establishment of the 
principle that the sale of beer as a beverage is as legitimate a 
trade as the sale of any other useful commodity of general con- 
sumption, and ought not to be subjected to any other restrict- 
ions than trade and commerce in general. 

"Resolved, That all candidates for public office, of whatever 
political party, who accept these views as expressed and reite- 
rated in these resolutions, and pledge themselves to adopt 
them for their rule of official action, whenever and wherever 
applicable, are hereby recommended to our members for their 
earnest support, and such candidates may firmly rely upon it." 

In 1872, the Executive Committee reported : 

" Many dangers threatening from the proposed enactment of 
laws to regulate the sale of intoxicating drinks, which have 
been attempted in nearly all the States of the Union, under the 
pretense of providing a safeguard for public morals. 

"Yon should be well prepared to meet all attempts on the 
part of these temperance fanatics ; they strike at our trade and 
to undermine our manly dignity and influence. 

" No trade, in view of its political power, is better calculated 
to exercise a marked influence on the elections than yours ; and 
it is your duty and a matter of self-defence to take a direct and 
active part in the political revolution and transformation of 
parties, so that .in this direction, too, the desired reforms 
may be achieved." 

In 1874, the President, in his address, said : 

" Repeal your present laws — they are useless ; encourage and 
foster malt liquors and light wines, for they are the true medi- 
um of temperance. 

" Urge upon your legislatures to abolish all prohibitory laws, 
and instead pass healthy license laws. Instead of condemning 
and prosecuting the saloon-keeper, punish the drunkards, refuse 
to recognize them as gentlemen, debar them from all society, 



Prohibition a Success. 417 

disfranchise them at the polls. Condemn them to sweep the 
streets of your city with chain and hall fastened to their feet. 
Make drunkards criminals, but not the honest producers and 

purveyors of a necessity of life. " 

» 
In 1875, although the President of the session declared 

that, " prohibition has failed, and will ever fail ; n and the 

chairman of the Agitation Committee, expressed himself 

certain that " the evils of intemperance could not be cured 

by prohibitory laws, 77 the official reports showed a reduction 

in the number of breweries during the year of nearly thirty 

per cent. In 1873 there were 3^554 breweries, and in 

1874, only 2,524. There was also a decrease of 30,194 

barrels manufactured during the year. The cause of this 

reduction was confessed by Mr. Schade, in his address, as 

being the existence and operation of those laws which the 

President had said, have u failed, and will ever fail." Mr. 

Schade said : 

" Very severe is the injury which the brewers have received 
in the so-called temperance States. The local-option law of 
Pennsylvania reduced the number of breweries in that State 
•from 500 in 1873, to 346 in 1874, thus destroying 154 breweries 
in one year. In Michigan it is even worse ; for of 202 breweries 
in 1873, only 68 remained in 1874. In Ohio the crusaders de- 
stroyed 68 out of 296. In Indiana the Baxter law stopped 6Q 
out of 158. In Maryland the breweries were reduced from 74 to 
15, some few of those stopped lying in those counties in which 
they have a local-option law. We sincerely hope that the 
Maryland Democracy, which had yielded too much to the 
women crusaders, will take an early opportunity to eradicate 
that unjust law which permits the people of a portion of the 
State to be put under the tyranny and despotism of those 
fanatics ." 

" There is no doubt that the temperance agitation and pro- 
hibitory laws are the chief causes of the decrease compared to 
the preceding year. Had our friends in Massachusetts been free 
to carry on their business, and had not the State authorities 
constantly interfered with the latter, there is no doubt that in- 
stead of showing a decrease of 116,583 barrels in one year, they 
would have increased at the same rate as they did the preceding 
year." 

The Agitating Committee also reported the repeal of the 
27 



418 Alcohol in History. 

Local Option Law of Pennsylvania, as a part of their suc- 
cessful work. The Association also : 

"Resolved, That where restrictive and prohibitory enactments 
exist, every possible measure be taken to oppose, resist and re- 
peal them." 

So in 1877, the Executive Committee reported : 

"Your Executive have closely watched and determinately 
tracked the efforts that are being made by the so-called temper- 
ance party in nearly every State in the Union ; they have taken 
stringent measures to thwart many of the schemes they have 
adopted to hamper our trade, and in most cases have been suc- 
cessful ; but we forbear entering into details which are duly 
recorded." 

At the same session, Mr. McAvoy, delegate from Chi- 
cago, informed the Association : " The brewers of Illinois 
have expended $10,000 to beat the temperance party at 
the elections." Mr. Pabst, of Milwaukee, remarked : 

"The brewers of Milwaukee have also expended a large 
amount of money to oppose the temperance party." And the 
President said : " Almost every local association has expended 
large amounts for this purpose." 

So in 1878, Mr. Schade said : 

" In my last year's report to you I urged the necessity of the 
government protecting its principal tax-payers against prohib- 
itory State legislation. I showed that if section 3243, Revised 
Statutes, would be so amended as to deny the States the privi- 
leges therein contained to interfere with the constitutional right 
of Congress to ' lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and ex- 
cises to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and 
welfare of the United States/ all your present troubles, caused 
by the fanatics, would cease at once." 

Vice-President Lauer, a pioneer brewer, made an address, 
in which, though he proclaimed the " failure " of prohibi- 
tory legislation, urged — as a most singular comment on 
such pretended failure — the " greatest vigilance on the part 
of the National Brewers' Association to secure the necessary 
protection against the encroachments of fanaticism and mis- 
directed temperance zeal." 



Prohibition Amendment to the Constitution. 419 

And Mr. Lewis Schade, of "Washington, thus referred to 
the efforts to secure a National Commission of Inquiry: 

11 For the last four years the temperance fanatics have, at the 
beginning of every session of Congress, introduced immense 
numbers of petitions from all parts of the country, every one of 
them asking for the appointment of a Commission of Five to in- 
vestigate the liquor traffic. At the first glance one might sup- 
pose that such a commission could do no harm. But would the 
fanatics renew their efforts for such a commission every year, 
if they meant no harm ? Is it not apparent that that is to be 
the stepping-stone to bring this question into the National Con- 
gress ? Suspecting everything coming from that quarter, I 
have, through my paper, the Washington Sentinel, and also in 
person, strenuously opposed the adoption of such a bill, and 
though the latter has passed the Senate two or three times, it 
has always failed in the House. In the present session a simi- 
lar effort has been made by the Senate, but fortunately there 
is less hope for a passage of the bill by the House than ever 
before." 

At the session in 1879, a table showing the quantity of 
beer made in each State and Territory, mentions that 
Maine, which formerly manufactured annually from 7,000 
to 10,000 barrels of beer, produced the preceding year 
u seven barrels." 

After passing resolutions condemning the " Advocates 
of Prohibition," who " continue to wage indiscriminate war 
against the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcoholic 
beverages, both distilled and fermented j *' the Association 
also adopted the following : 

" Whereas, The near future may bring issues gravely affecting 
the welfare of the brewing business of this country, and requir- 
ing united action and strenuous exertion ; therefore, 

" Resolved, That it is the duty of every member of this Asso- 
ciation, by persistent personal effort, to extend its membership 
and influence as far as possible, and that it is a matter of duty 
and self-interest for every one directly or indirectly connected 
with the brewing trade to join its ranks and to labor for the 
advancement of its aims and objects." 

Those anticipated " issues " in " the near future," w r ere 
doubtless, in a large measure, the Constitutional amend- 



420 Alcohol in History. 

ments then being considered by the Legislatures of Iowa 
and Kansas. At all events, tlie Beer Brewers of Iowa held 
a Convention in 1879, at which they denounced the pro- 
posed Constitutional Amendment, and raised a fund with 
which to try and defeat it. They said : 

" Never was it more necessary for us to defend our business. 
Never was our business in greater danger than at present. Now 
it is for us to decide whether we will stay idle and let our busi- 
ness (heretofore acknowledged as a legitimate and legal one) be 
ruined by unjust and hypocritical legislation and chicanery, 
or whether we will, as men and fathers, protect our trade, and 
so our wives and children, and maintain our liberty and our 
rights. 7 ' 

These declared purposes, reiterated resolutions of inten- 
tion to carry them out, confessions of the necessity for pro- 
tection against Prohibitory State Legislation, reports of 
damage already received, and of troubles anticipated, are 
unmistakable confessions that Prohibitory Laws, wherever 
executed, are a success. 

But not the Brewers alone are active to prevent Prohib- 
itory Legislation. The " Wine and Spirit Traders' Society 
of the United States," is composed of men of great ability 
in the commercial world, and of immense wealth ; having 
its President, several Vice-Presidents, a Council of twenty 
members, many standing Committees, eminent legal coun- 
sel, and a Committee on Legislation. Honorary member- 
ship is granted to persons and business firms doing business 
outside the United States, by the payment of one hundred 
dollars, a privilege which many of the largest manufac- 
turers of intoxicants in various parts of Europe, have 
availed themselves of. There are also many State " Liquor 
Leagues," " Saloon-Keepers' Associations," " Protective 
Unions," etc., representing the various branches of the trade 
in Ardent Spirits, all of which are active in attempts to 
manipulate Legislatures, and to obstruct and defeat the 
operations of the laws against the manufacture and sale of 
intoxicants. 

Early in 1879, what is called the " Merchants' Protective 



Objections to Prohibition, 421 

Union," composed of the whiskey dealers of Topeka, Kan- 
sas, issued the following circular : 

"Dear Sir: We have organized a society in this city 
known as the Merchants' Protective Union, for the purpose of 
defeating the prohibition amendment to the Constitution of 
the State of Kansas, which is to he voted on in 1880. We pro- 
pose organizing similar societies in each city and town through- 
out the State, and for the purpose of organizing the different 
societies in unison with each other, we think it necessary to 
call a mass convention, to he held in this city at an early date, 
so that all parties interested may have an opportunity of advis- 
ing each other as to the best plan of carrying on our campaign. 
We therefore urgently request that you confer with all par- 
ties interested in your vicinity, giving us your views as early 
as convenient. 

" Yours very respectfully, 

"C. E. Jo^es, 

u Corresponding Secretary." 

In accordance with this call, a Convention was held, at- 
tended by one hundred and thirty-eight delegates, who or- 
ganized a Society called : u The People's Grand Protective 
Union." They unanimously adopted the following : 

" Resolved , That the Prohibition Amendment to the Constitu- 
tion of the State of Kansas, if adopted, would be a law, in its 
practical application, far beyond the public sentiment of the 
people, and would be inoperative ; that its adoption would take 
the whole subject of temperance out of the power of the Legisla- 
ture, leaving the people without a remedy. Laws so stringent 
that they cannot be enforced are destructive of all good, be- 
cause it teaches men not to respect the restraining power of law. 
The laws now upon the statutes of the State are as stringent as 
can be enforced, and may be amended or repealed as public in- 
terest and public sentiment shall demand. The amendment, if 
adopted, would do what no Constitution in any State of this 
Union does ; it would legalize the manufacture and sale of 
liquor, unrestrained by law, and the liquor once purchased and 
in the hands of the purchaser, its use cannot be controlled, 
thereby offering a premium to falsehood, perjury, and intempe- 
rance." 

The Ohio State Liquor Dealers' Association adopted the 
following resolution : 



422 Alcohol in History. 

11 Resolved , That we, tlie liquor dealers of Ohio, in convention 
assembled in Akron, do hereby pledge and affirm that in the 
future we will not support any but the most outspoken, houest, 
and just acting and thinking men in behalf of liberal legislation 
on the liquor traffic." 

In Chicago they have organized what is called u The 
Spirit and Wine Manufacturers' and Dealers 7 Society/ 7 with 
the following object : 

" To encourage societies and co-operation among the trade in 
other places ; to advocate a national organization ; to remove 
unjust, obstructive, and needlessly complicated laws ; to devise 
appropriate legislation, local and national ; to oppose intole- 
rance and fanaticism; to see that the laws are respected and en- 
forced; to support the broadest liberties consistent with good 
government and social tranquillity." 

There is also, " The Saloon-Keepers' and Liquor Deal- 
ers 7 Association of Illinois/ 7 which, at a Convention held 
in Chicago, September, 1880, adopted the following: 

"Resolved, That this association will watch, with the great- 
est vigilance, the action of our representatives in the halls of 
the legislature, holding them to a strict account for every vote, 
or neglect to vote upon all laws respecting our liberty and just 
rights; and that we will use our united power, and that of oir 
friends, as well as that of all our resources, to prevent the 
election of men either too cowardly to resist the allurements of 
temperance women, or too stupid to comprehend the vicious 
effects of sumptuary legislation." 

The following was issued as its date indicates : 

" Nashville, Tenx., August, 1880. 

"Dear Sin — We beg to call your attention to the importance 
of co-operation among liquor dealers throughout the State, to 
secure, if possible, such representation in the next Legislature 
as will not be opposed to our interests. The indications are that 
determined efforts will be made to secure the passage of Local 
Option, or Prohibitory Laws, and to repeat in the State the 
folly and failure of sumptuary legislation, which has in the past 
been productive of no substantial or moral good, but has only 
harassed the masses, and destroyed their material interests 
without benefit to those for whose reformation the laws Trere 
passed. If you will give your attention to it, you can elect men 
to the Legislature who are not in favor of fanatical experiments 



Objections to Prohibition. 423 

to interfere with a traffic in which there is invested so much 
capital, and which is the chief source of revenue to our State. 
We suggest that you consult with liquor dealers, and friends in 
the country, and endeavor to send fair men to the next General 
Assembly who are practical and reasonable, and not disposed to 
set on foot a code of laws to make criminals of yourselves and 
others engaged in the liquor traffic, and destroy the business, in 
the absurd and ever failing attempt to eradicate the evil of 
drunkenness by law. 

"Respectfully, Liquor Dealers of Nashville. 

" This communication is confidential, and for your own advise- 
ment, and is not intended for publication." 

After the adoption of tlie Constitutional Amendment in 
Kansas, prohibiting the Manufacture and Sale of Intoxi- 
cants in that -State, "The ^Western Brewer/ 7 published 
several articles in its issue of November 15, 1880, in which 
it bemoaned the fate that awaited its business there. In one 
article it said : 

"Kansas has become the Maine of the West by the decree 
of a majority sufficiently large to appal the friends of personal 
freedom and progression throughout the world. The new act 
becomes a part of the organic law of the State — a part of the 
constitution — shrewdly voted upon in this shape by the fanatics, 
in order that it cannot be repealed or blown away, even after 
their oppressive majority leaves them, and people get sick of 
their bargain, except by a two-thirds vote. It is, therefore, safe 
to infer, that however great a revolution may occur in the senti- 
ments of the citizens of Kansas, the present generation will not 
see the law repealed. What action the thirty-five brewers of 
Kansas will now take, remains to be seen. There is but one 
possible way for them to do. They must close their doors, put 
out their tires, and seek other lands for an opportunity to earn 
bread for their children by practicing the only trade they have 
learned, and by means of which alone they can make a living. 

. . . These men are forced to ruin by a power unknown in 
any despotic country, any effete monarchy ; the power of a 
majority, which the American people are slowly coming to un- 
derstand is a personal despot, of less conscience and greater 
means of oppression than any ruler, be he Koman, or Bourbon or 
Guelph. . . . Iowa comes next. The precedent established, 
it is no longer a matter of reasonable doubt how that State will 
vote on a similar law. Iowa rolls up a fanatical majority 



424 Alcohol in History. 

always and every time, to glorify the saints and advance the 
growth of long hair. ... It was largely accomplished by 
money contributed by temperance fanatics. One hundred 
thousand dollars alone having been contributed by the short- 
haired, goggle-eyed and rich temperance women of Boston." 

And in another article : 

" The thirty-five breweries in Kansas will now put out their 
fires and lock uj) their doors. Moth and rust will take possess- 
ion. The proprietors, many of whom have spent a lifetime in 
building up their business, will have to look elsewhere for bread 
for their children. So say the people of Kansas at the polls. 
There is no despotism like the despotism of the majority." 

And again : " When and where will fanaticism in this coun- 
try be checked ? Apparently not at the polls. Ballots have 
settled the brewers in Kansas." 

And once more : "No wonder prohibition won in Kansas. 
At Winn eld the polls were taken charge of by the women, who 
appeared in full force, and remained all day with tickets in 
their hands, soliciting votes for the amendment with tears in 
their eyes. They waltzed round the ballot boxes, ogled the mas- 
culines, and lifted their dresses just high enough to keep them 
out of the tobacco juice. At home their husbands cared for the 
yelling infants, and washed up the dishes. And this is one 
reason why Kansas has become Maine. Not even the ballot-box 
can withstand petticoats." 

How all this venom indicates that the business which 
makes home a hell for woman, dreads Prohibitory Law ! 

III. The testimony of men wdio have had great experi- 
ence in various departments of Temperance work, as to the 
necessity and value of Prohibition, is no slight proof of its 
success. 

Of Dr. Lyman Beecher, one of the most able and active 
pioneers in the Temperance work, Dr. Charles Jew^ett says, 
in his " Forty Years Fight with the Drink Demon/' record- 
ing an incident which occurred in 1859 : 

"At one of the prayer meetings held at the Old South Church, 
he gave a terrible shock to the usual decorum which charac- 
terized those meetings, by a burst of enthusiasm over the Maine 
Law. He had pictured, as he only could, the conflict which 
had been going on in the Universe for centuries, between the 



Maine Law. 425 

powers of light and darkness, of good and evil, and the anxiety 
and dismay which lie, as well as millions of others, had felt at 
times, notwithstanding their trust in God and the promises of 
His word, in view of the tierceness of the struggle and the seem- 
iug advantage sometimes gained by the powers of evil. k But, 
brethren, 7 said he, ' let us rejoice and be glad, for the powers 
of hell are just now in dismay. That glorious Maine Law was 
a square and grand blow right between the very horns of the 
Devil, and from the moment of its reception I seem to see him 
falling back — stubborn and terrible, but falling back! — and the 
consecrated host of God's elect pressing close upon him!' 
While thus giving vent to emotions too strong for words alone 
to express, the grand old man was advancing on the floor, 
swinging his big cane with a powerful energy, which showed 
very clearly the spirit in which he would right the biggest 
devil in existence had he been there. He wound up magnifi- 
cently. ' So shall it be, brethren — I believe it —I see it — they 
will crowd him back, and crowd him back — (still advancing 
and swinging his cane) — until they shall push him over the 
battlements, and send him back to the hell from which he came 
forth! And then shall come up from a redeemed earth the 
shout, c Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and 
good will to men.' " Pp. 363-4. 

In the same work, Dr. Jewett, one of the most efficient 
champions of the Temperance cause, thus utters his own 
convictions : " God be thanked for the Maine Law T ! and 
the grand inspiration, energy, and honest devotion to the 
public weal by which it w T as created ! May no backward 
step ever be taken in that noble State, which now bears 
the flag of prohibition, in the advance of our temperance 
host." P. 324. 

Said Father Mathew : 

" The question of prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits, and 
the many other intoxicating drinks which are to be found in 
our country, is not new to me. The principle of prohibition 
seems to be the only safe and certain remedy for the evils of in- 
temperance. This opinion has been strengthened and confirmed 
by the hard labor of more than twenty years in the temperance 
cause. I rejoice in the welcome intelligence of the formation 
of a Maine Law Alliance, which I trust will be the means 
under God of destroying this fruitful source of crime and 
pauperism.'' 



426 Alcohol in History. 

John B. Gough, on the occasion of his last visit to Edin- 
burgh, Scotland, said : 

"1 wish to put myself right on prohibition. I am a thorough 
prohibitionist, for we must not only abstain, but educate public 
opinion to vote right at the ballot-box on this question. We 
often hear it said that the Maine law is a failure ; that is false 
for it is a grand success. True, in Massachusetts it has been re- 
versed; but why? Simply because temperauce people sat at 
ease after the law was passed and neglected to educate the ris- 
ing generation, so that when the vote came we were in a 
minority. Let us sink all differences, let bygones be bygones, 
aud by education of personal abstinence for the individual, 
and prohibition for the nation, success is certain." 

Said Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, on the occasion of the 
passage of the Prohibitory Law, some years ago, in the 
State of New York: 

" We might be baffled and balked a great while before we 
could make all the teeth of this law meet with a good subject 
between them; we might have to deal with men who would 
come, and disappear, as spirits do ; but there was one thing 
they could not reverse ; after years of discussion, the people in 
this Empire State had declared, that the making and selling of 
intoxicating drinks, for such purposes, was a crime. The prin- 
ciple was born ; and there was nothing born on the face of this 
earth that carried such joy as the birth of a moral principle." 

Hon. Henry Wilson, said, in 1867 : 

" Do you think that Christian men can pray for the license 
law ? Does any man dare take that law into his closet, and 
read his Bible, and on bended knee ask God to bless it ? I would 
like to see the man who would do it. I tell you, gentlemen, 
that what the people of Massachusetts, the great masses, cannot 
pray God for, cannot go on the statute book of this State, and 
stay there." 

Said Dr. Henry A. Reynolds : 

" I always voted for Prohibition, and I always intend to. I 
hope if God ever sees me start with a ballot for license or free 
rum, He will take my life before He permits it in the ballot- 
box." 

Francis Murphy, in an Address given at the International 
Temperance Conference, in Philadelphia, July, 1876, which 



Prohibitory Laivs. 427 

he commenced by eulogizing the Prohibitory Law of 
Maine, concluded thus : 

" Every sacred feeling in us stands up arrayed against the 
liquor-traffic. The Constitution of the country stauds against 
it. In the courts of the nation, where the honor of the nation 
has been vindicated, rum has been brought to the bar of justice, 
and I thank God to-night that the legal profession, the men 
who have been draped with the ermine of the Judge, who have 
sat upon the seat of justice, have been equal to their duties, 
and stand to-day before this nation the pride and honor of it in 
the administration of justice for right against this cursed traf- 
fic." 

Says Rev. Joseph Cook: 

" While we embrace every opportunity to call out the efforts 
of the church in personal visitation of the poor, and in the 
founding of self-supporting religious institutions, let us not 
forget the responsibility of the civil arm for the shutting up of 
the dens of temptation.' 7 

Miss Frances E. Willardj as President of the " Illinois 
Woman's Christian Temperance Union/ 3 thus, in an article 
in the Advance, urging the closing of the liquor shops by 
law, gives expression to the general sentiment of the wo- 
men who are actively at work in the cause of Temperance. 

" The saloons that were closed are open once more — and 
why ? Because the laws of a Christian republic make liquor 
selling reputable. The tens of thousands who yearly, since 
1874, have been reformed by efforts of the Women's Christian 
Temperance Unions, have many of them gone back to their 
cups, and why? Largely because, on every street corner, the 
wide-open door of the saloon, sheltered under the a^gis of law, 
invites them back to the old indulgence and the coveted com- 
radeship. Boys and young men in the slippery path of inexpe- 
rience and the special danger of imagined strength are forming 
habits of drinking in far greater numbers than moderate and 
immoderate drinkers are forming habits of sobriety, and why ? 
Because, again, so long as the traffic in aoy commodity is re- 
spectable — and in some States nothing short of ' a good, moral 
character ' entitles a man — by the law— to be a saloon-keeper ! 
so long will it be respectable to buy and use that commodity. 
From all these hard facts of experience the temperance women 
of Illinois have deduced a very rational conclusion, namely: 
that they will use the great influence they are acquiring over pub- 



428 Alcohol in History. 

lie sentiment to hasten the time when the liquor-traffic shall be 
put under ban by the laws of Illinois. They have often seen 
their whole year's work on the moral suasion line endangered 
or upset by the falseness to principle of the average voter when 
election day came around. They have been taught ' by the 
argument of defeat ' that you must fight fire with fire ; meet the 
eneray in his stronghold of power by overwhelming numbers ; 
and offset bad voters by good ones, if ever the liquor-traffic is 
to go down. Therefore, they are rising up in the might of 
moral power and Christian womanhood, and saying: " On this 
question of license we want the ballot. We ask it only on this 
one issue; as temperance women we have nothing to do with 
other phases of the mooted question of women's rights, and no 
matter what our private opinions on the general question may 
be, we do not bring them into this discussion. The ballot 
for 'Home Protection,' so far as regards license or no license of 
the grog-shop, merits the approval of all good men. They tell 
us that they like the phrase and are glad that the petition for 
a vote on the question bears the name of ' Home Protection 
Petition.'" 

And Judge Pitman, in the closing chapter of his master- 
ly work on "Alcohol and the State/' after passing in 
review the various methods which have become historic in 
the treatment of this great problem of Intemperance, and 
showing that the extinction of the evil " requires the 
intervention of law, and that moral suasion, educational 
and religious instrumentalities, are all inadequate without 
the aid of legislation," thus hopefully concludes : 

" Before the aroused conscience of the people, wielding the 
indomitable will of a State, the ministers to vice, the tempters 
of innocence, the destroyers of soul and body, shall go down 
for ever." (p. 405.) 

He had previously said : " May I not rightly sum up the duty 
of those who believe the liquor traffic to be a curse, as this: 
Wherever license prevails, contest every inch of territory you 
can for prohibition ; where prohibition prevails, never surren- 
der an inch to license, excej)t from dire necessity." (p. 213.) 

In England, ex-Bailie Lewis, after speaking of the 

energy and zeal of the Church, the moral efforts of Tem- 
perance reformers, the multiplication of organizations in 



Prohibitory Laws. 429 

Edinburgh, and the increase of intemperance, in spite of all 
these, says : 

" The conclusion of the whole matter is this — until there is 
sufficient patriotism, among the leaders of the people to demand 
the statutory prohibition of this license enormity, society must 
make up its mind to hear all the accumulated horrors of the 
drink curse." * 

In a memorial not long since presented to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops, members of 
the House of Lords, asking for a law for the stop of the 
sale of intoxicants, and signed by over thirteen thousand 
clergymen of the Church of England, occurs this significant 
sentence : 

" We are convinced, most of us, from an intimate acquain- 
tance with the people, extending over many years, that their 
condition can never be greatly improved, whether intellect- 
ually, physically, or religiously, so long as intemperance exten- 
sively pre vails amongst them, and that intemperance will 
prevail so long as temptations to it abound on every side." f 

Dr. Temple, Bishop of Exter, puts it thus: u Men who are 
hard at work, whose frames are exhausted by their toil, who 
feel within them the natural weariness and lassitude that labor 
produces, and who are then shown somethiug that will give 
them temporary relief; who know, that for at any rate a short 
time, they may have something like real pleasure, though it be 
but of vicious kiud — men who are worn and weary, and taken 
as it were at their weakest moment — is it just to thrust in 
their faces this temptation, which iu their own consciences 
they know they ought not to approach." 

Said Archbishop (now Cardinal) Manning : 
"I agree most heartily and cordially, that the great curse 
which withers our people, that the pestilence which is devour- 
ing them, is drunkenness. I feel that to labor to put it down 
is our duty, and I am convinced that to put it down, legislation 
is absolutely necessary." \ 

And Canon Farrar, in his brave utterances on the sub- 
ject, has said : 

* Cited in Alcohol and the State, p. 148. tlbid, p. 146. 

% Cited in Bacchus Dethroned, p. 253. 



480 , Alcohol in History. 

"I say unhesitatingly, that the grounds on which Parliament 
does not interfere with the sale of drink are theoretically un- 
tenable as well as practically disastrous." . . . " That 
bill," (Sir Wilfrid Lawson's,) " is simply intended to enable the 
people to protect themselves from that which they have found 
by long and bitter experience to be an overwhelming peril. 
Hitherto Parliament has utterly refused to help us. They can- 
not and will not refuse if the demand comes to them in a 
nation's voice, and if that voice speak in the accents of men 
who are resolutely and indignantly determined to use every 
means in their power to save a new generation from a sin which 
has been, to an extent so utterly deplorable, the ruin and curse 
of this generation in which our lives are cast." * 

'• If the Permissive Bill be so ' bad 7 as statesmen have told us 
it is, why, in heaven's name, does not some statesman come 
forward and give us a better ? I am perfectly sure Sir Wilfrid 
Lawson — who ought to have the sympathy of all good men, 
because he has the abuse of all bad men — I am quite sure he 
would be the very first to welcome such a bill. And I am 
very sure the statesman who should pass such a bill would 
wear through the rest of England's history a greener laurel 
than was worn even by Chatham's self. Oh ! for one ' still 
strong man in a blatant land,' who is not afraid of prejudice, 
of abuse, or to fight the battle of the people in the fight with 
their besetting sin." t 

But, notwithstanding all these concessions on the part 
of Temperance leaders, and all the fears of those interested 
in the liquor traffic, it is obvious that many Temperance 
men put obstacles in the way of the enactment and enforce- 
ment of Prohibitory Laws, and that the liquor interest is 
a unit in both arguing and working against them. Why 
is this ? What are the grounds of this opposition ? and 
what are their validity ? 

I. It is not unjust to say — since it is so fully avowed in 
the quotations already made from their numerous declara- 
tions — that self-interest is at the bottom of the opposi- 
tion of the liquor maker and the liquor seller 5 but is 

* Talks on Temperance, American edition, pp. 119, 133. 
f The Duty of the Church, American edition, pp. 21, 22. 



Opposition to Prohibitory Laics. 431 

not this also the basis of opposition to all law on the 
part of the wrong-doer, of every hue and grade? The 
publisher of obscene literature, the keeper of the brothel, 
the proprietor of the gambling-house, the counterfeiter, 
the burglar, the highwayman, aud each and every man 
and woman who, like the shrine-makers of Ephesus, 
"get great gain" from their craft, put in the same plea 
against interference with their business. 

" No rogue e'er felt the halter draw, 
With good opinion of the law." 

But, by common consent, it is the business of the Legis- 
lature to suffer no man's self-interest to war against the 
general good ; and it must be obvious to all who are can- 
did in the examination of the appalling facts which show 
that pauperism, crime, burdening taxes, and innumerable 
evils, legitimately flow from the liquor traffic, that less than 
all others can those who engage in that traffic be justly 
shielded by the plea of self-interest. The old legend of 
the man who was tempted by the devil to do one of three 
things, either to kill his neighbor, commit adultery, or 
become intoxicated, and wdio, thinking that he was chosing 
the lesser evil, elected to get drunk, and so was led both 
to adultery and murder, is no exaggeration as illustrative 
of the fact that drunkenness leads to all other crimes. 
And the only legitimate and radical ground for law-makers 
to take is that such a traffic should be crushed out, no mat- 
ter what poverty comes to the few by so doing; and that, 
if more than a few are interested in it, by just so much as 
these increase facilities for drunkenness, should the laws 
be more thorough and unsparing. The State has no right 
to encourage any monopoly, and least of all to protect a 
few in warring against everything that is of interest and 
worth to the people at large. 

"It appears to me,' 7 said Lord Chesterfield, in debating this 
question in the British Parliament, "that since the spirits 
which the distillers produce are allowed to enfeeble the limbs, 



432 Alcohol in History. 

and vitiate the blood, to pervert the heart and obscure the in- 
tellect, that the number of distillers should be no argument in 
their favor ; for I never heard that a law against theft was re- 
pealed or delayed because thieves were numerous. It appears 
to me, my lords, that if so formidable a body are confederated 
agaiust the virtue or the lives of their fellow-citizens, it is time 
to put an end to the havoc, and to interpose, while it is yet in 
our power to stop the destruction. 

" As little, my lords, am I affected with the merit of the won- 
derful skill which the distillers are said to have attained, that 
it is, in my opinion, no faculty of great use to mankind, to pre- 
pare palatable poison ; nor shall 1 ever contribute my interest 
for the reprieve of a murderer, because he has, by long practice, 
obtained great dexterity in his trade. If their liquors are so 
delicious that the people are tempted to their own destruction, 
let us at length, my lords, secure them from the fatal draughts, 
by bursting the vials that contain them ; let us crush, at once, 
these artists in slaughter, who have reconciled their country- 
men to sickness and to ruin, and spread over the pitfalls of de- 
bauchery such baits as cannot be resisted." * 

And Lord Lonsdale said, in the same debate : 

"When it is once granted that spirits corrupt the mind, 
weaken the limbs, impair virtue, and shorten life, any argu- 
ments in favor of those who manufacture them come too late, 
since no advantage can be equivalent to the loss of honesty and 
life. When the noble lord has urged that the distillery employs 
great numbers of hands, and therefore ought to be encouraged, 
may it not upon his own concession be replied, that those num- 
bers are employed in murder, and that their trade ought, like 
that of other murderers, to be stopped ? When he urges that 
much of our grain is consumed in the still, may we not answer, 
and answer irresistibly, that it is consumed by being turned 
into poison, instead of bread ? And can a stronger argument 
be imagined for the suppression of this detestable business, 
than that it employs multitudes, and that it is gainful and ex- 
tensive?"! 

These considerations lose nothing by their age ? for they 
voice the moral sense of all the ages, and a failure to hear 
and heed them is sure to demoralize and render worthless 

* Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1744, p. 9. 
f Ibid, February, 1744, p. 63. 



Opposition to Prohibitory Laics. 433 

all that our civilization makes possible to any form and 
administration of human government. The great Commen- 
tator on American Law, lays down and defends the same 
principle : 

"The Government may, hy general regulations, interdict 
such uses of property as would create nuisances, and become 
dangerous to the lives, or health, or peace, or comfort of the 
citizens. Unwholesome trades, slaughter-houses, operations 
offensive to the senses, the deposit of powder, the "building with 
combustible materials, and the burial of the dead, may be in- 
terdicted by law, in the midst of dense masses of population, 
on the general and rational principle that every person ought 
so to use his property as not to injure his neighbors, and that 
private interest must be made subservient to the general inter- 
est of the community. ; ' t 

II. Another ground of opposition to Prohibitory Laws is, 
that they interfere with personal liberty. By this is 
meant, if anything, that the fact that a man has engaged 
in any traffic, establishes, of itself, his right to continue in 
that traffic. But this is too glaringly absurd to deceive 
any one. It cannot possibly be a universal rule, else every 
man's house might be exposed to a nuisance, every rascality 
knowm among men would have a valid plea for non-inter- 
ference, protection of life and property would be an impos- 
sibility, law could take no cognizance whatever of such a 
thing as the public good. This is so self-evident that there 
is no man who does not demand that his family, his neigh- 
borhood, and himself shall be protected by. laws which 
shall interfere with this liberty of others to do just as they 
please. Hence, on this principle of self-protection, we have 
laws prohibiting the sale of immature or tainted meats, pro- 
hibiting lotteries, gambling and gambling-houses, brothels, 
the sale of poisonous or adulterated drugs, the traffic in un- 
wholesome and light-weighted bread, and many other 
things. 

In short, all law proceeds on the fact that there is some 

, — „ ? . 

f Kent, II., p. 240. 
28 



434 Alcohol in History. 

wrong or some danger of wrong which the public must be 
guarded against. "The law," says an inspired authority, 
"is made for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly 
and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of 
fathers, and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for 
whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with man- 
kind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons." (1 
Timothy, i. 9.) And every application or enforcement of 
the law interferes with the offender's freedom to do the 
things which the law is aimed against ; and because of this 
we uphold, vindicate, and rejoice in the law as protecting 
ourselves and all others, and making true liberty a possi- 
bility. 

We say, then, that the plea of personal liberty avails 
no man anything, if in the exercise of that liberty he is 
jeopardizing the rights, the security and the happiness of 
others. The safety of the people must always, in any 
equitable government, be the supreme law ; and under this 
ancient but perpetually significant rule, the liquor traffic 
must be outlawed, put beyond the pale of toleration, 
crushed oat, as being, more than all things else that can 
be mentioned — since it is the incitement to all conceivable 
evil — the curse of the land and the destroyer of its people. 
Better, far better, that we allow this plea of Personal Lib- 
erty as a bar against interfering with any other known vice, 
than that we listen to and heed it as urged by the liquor- 
seller in defence of his vile traffic. He is, of all others, the 
greatest foe to the liberties of the land, and to the prosper- 
ity and protection of the homes and the lives of the people .; 
and therefore, his Personal Liberty to do as he pleases in 
establishing and perpetuating his traffic, ought to be inter- 
fered with and forbidden. 

Mr. Gladstone is reported as having said, and justly, 
that the sphere of government in regard to man is " to 
make it easy for him to do what is right, and difficult for 
him to do wrong ; " and by all means, this " sum of all 
wrong," should be hedged about with such difficulties as to 



Opposition to Prohibitory Laivs. 435 

make its continuance an impossibility. This, Prohibition 
aims to do, and no less radical dealing with the vice can, 
or intends to, accomplish this. 

III. Somewhat akin to this last considered objection, is 
the plea that Prohibitory Laws are of the nature of a Sump- 
tuary Law, seeking to interfere with and determine what a 
man shall eat or drink. This, if not wholly a mistake, is 
equally valid against all laws for the punishment of drunk- 
enness, and especially against such as the Brewers' Associ- 
ation (as see previous quotations, from their proceedings in 
1874,) desire to have enforced against drunkards. 

But in point of fact, no law for the Prohibition of the 
traffic in intoxicating liquors, has ever said, or ever in- 
tended to say that the liberty of any man to drink Intoxi- 
cants shall be interfered with, any more than the law 
against the sale of immature meats, poisonous or adultera- 
ted drugs, unwholesome or light-weight bread, shall be an 
interference with a man's eating or using all that he wants to 
of such unwholesome and cheating things. But, inasmuch 
as the traffic in these exposes the people to disease, or is 
the practice of a fraud upon them, the law, which is in- 
tended to shield the people from harm and imposition, pro- 
hibits the trade in such noxious and frandulent articles. 
To cure the people of any disposition to indulge in the 
consumption of such things, they need, it is true, to be 
enlightened with regard to the personal injury which they 
sustain, and, especially in the case of the use of drugs for 
other than medicinal purposes, their moral sense must also 
be appealed to. But, a failure to so enlighten and con- 
vince, or a perversity, arising either from love of indulgence 
in the hurtful thing, or of weakness of will to resist the 
temptation to indulgence, does not alter the fact that either 
a free or licensed traffic in these things, is fraught with 
danger and mischief to the community, and should there- 
fore be forbidden. 

So is it, on precisely the same principle, with the intent 



436 Alcohol in History. 

and operation of Prohibitory Liquor Laws. They are in no 
sense a dictation to any man as to what he shall not drink. 
They are the expression of the decision of the law-makers 
that the traffic, because it creates disease, pauperism, crime, 
general insecurity of life, constant jeopardizing of property 7 
increased taxation, and an unsettling and disturbance of the 
very foundations of society, is incompatible with the wel- 
fare and safety of the State, and therefore should not be 
allowed. If men will use such liquors, let them do so, and 
let them obtain them as they may j but the State, satisfied 
of the ruinous consequences of such use, as just described, 
has a right to say, and is guilty of injustice to its citizens, 
if it does not say, "the sale of such a source of mischief 
shall be prohibited/ 7 If men are tempted to drink and 
persist in drinking, either from love of the oblivious condi- 
tion into which drunkenness places them, or from inability, 
on account or self-enfeebled will, to resist, or from inherited 
tendencies and weakness, or from any other cause, whatever, 
they are to be directly reached by enlightenment of mind 
and conscience, by moral suasion, by medical treatment 
and care, or by any other personal appeal, and attention j 
and the fact that the State wisely does its duty " in mak- 
ing it difficult for them to do wrong/ 7 is a powerful help in 
the use of these agencies ; but if even with all these instru- 
mentalities and this facility for their use, reform is not 
effected, the duty of the State remains the same, the right 
of the citizens to protection against the evils of the traffic 
is unchanged, and its prohibition is none the less a duty 
and a necessity. 

IV. It is frequently urged that Prohibitory Laws are at 
war with the financial interests of the country, inasmuch 
as the General Government derives a large revenue from 
the duties and tax paid on imported and home manufactured 
intoxicants, and each State, town or city, is enriched from 
the fees paid for licenses. If it is conceded that the above 
is true, and that there are no offsets for the consequences 



Revenue from the Liquor Traffic 437 

of drinking, to be paid out of these receipts, the mere fact 
of revenue and tax would not be a wise argument for ac- 
cepting or continuing it, unless it could be shown that the 
liquor traffic was productive of more good than harm to the 
country at large, or to any particular section of it. But 
since this is impossible, since, as has been abundantly 
shown in preceding pages, the history of the traffic is unre- 
lieved by a single instance of good result, but all is shame- 
ful and ruinous, the fact of revenue derived therefrom is no 
reason fa 1 its continuance; or if it is urged as a reason, it 
has no more valid plea than has any other crime and out- 
rage to justify itself because of its willingness and desire to 
put money in the public treasury. There is no conceivable 
immorality or crime which would not gladly pay for the 
privilege of an unmolested career, even a larger sum than 
the liquor traffic pays. 

But r so fearful are the offsets of personal loss, general 
demoralization, and actual expense paid in dollars and 
cents for the detection and punishment of crime, and the 
support of pauperism, occasioned by the drink traffic, that 
no public treasury is in any sense enriched by the duties, 
taxes and license fees, which that traffic produces. Pitt 
justly characterized the attempts of the British Ministry to 
tax America, as miserable financiering, " a boast of fetch- 
ing a peppercorn into the exchequer at the loss of millions 
to the nation ! " Our plea of Eevenue from the Liquor 
Traffic is still more short-sighted. Our liquor dealers pour 
out a beverage for the citizens, the use of which incapaci- 
tates them for labor, reduces their families to beggary, 
makes the drinker a nuisance and a criminal, and from the 
money thus received, for which no useful equivalent has 
been given, turns over the worse than wasted capital of the 
country into the public treasury, to become less than a 
" peppercorn,'' in the " millions " which must be paid for 
the direct and indirect results of the traffic. The mere loss 
on labor alone, from the use of liquor in the United States, 
based on actual census returns of the value of the labor of 



438 Alcohol in History. 

those engaged in the business, time lost during drunken- 
ness, the insanity, idiocy, sickness and death, caused by in- 
temperance, is annually $1,244,395,000, as a return for the 
privilege of causing which, the liquor manufacturers pay 
the General Government, $61,225,995.53, and the liquor 
seller pays the States for licenses, $50,000,000, leaving an 
excess of loss for the privilege of receiving this insignificant 
revenue, of $1,133,169,004.47. Add to this the direct ex- 
penses of pauperism and crime, and we have a showing 
that should satisfy anybody of the blunder and crime of 
any attempted revenue from the liquor traffic. 

We may approximate an idea of the expenses through- 
out the country in supporting the pauperism, and prosecut- 
ing the crimes caused by intemperance, by one instance. 
Albert Barnes says, in a note to his discourse on " The 
Throne of Iniquity : " " The exact sum received in the city 
and county of Philadelphia for tavern licenses in the year 
1851, was $66,302 ; the whole sum in the State was about 
$108,000. The expenses for prosecuting the crime, and 
for the support of pauperism, consequent on intemperance, 
in the city and county, was, for the same year, as accurately 
as it can be computed, $365,000." That is, for every 
$181.65 paid into the city and county treasury as a contri- 
bution to the revenue by the liquor traffic, the treasury 
paid out $1,000 for poverty and crime occasioned by that 
traffic. A wonderful enrichment ! 

And what is true in the United States, is equally true in 
other countries. In Great Britain the revenue from the tax 
on Intoxicating Liquors, " amounted, in 1868-9, to £25,603,- 
160. Now what does it cost the nation to get at this sum ? 
Probably £259,000,000, equivalent to paying 1,000 per cent., 
for collecting the tax. The following are the particulars : 

1. The retail value of the liquor sold £103,000,000 

2. For the detection and punishment of crime 

caused by intemperance 3,000,000 

3. In poor-rates and police-rates, extra on ac- 
count of drunkenness, and drink -made pau- 
pers , . . 10,000,000 



Revenue from the Liqmr Traffic. 439 

4. Losses incurred through intemperance to 
shipping, conimerc^ and the productive 

industry of the nation 112,070,000 

5. Cost of disease, physical and mental, both in 

public hospitals and in private practice 6,000,000 

6. Voluntary taxes, in support of ragged schools, 

local charities, etc 6,000,000 

7. Extra expenses incurred through intempe- 

rance in the army and navy. 2,422,000 

3. Cost of corn imported to replace that de- 
stroyed in distillation, etc 16,000,000 

Total * £259,092,000 

Xo wonder, that, in view of this enormous waste, the 
London Times should have said, in 1853 : 

" Neither supplying the natural wants of man, nor offering an 
adequate substitute for them — a system of voluntary and daily 
poisoning — no Tray so rapid to increase the wealth of nations 
and the morality of society could be devised, as the utter anni- 
hilation of the manufacture of ardent spirits, constituting, as 
they do, an infinite waste and an unmixed evil." 

And the Daily Telegraph confessed, in 1862, that : " Our rev- 
enue may derive some unholy benefit from the sale of alcohol, 
but the entire trade is, nevertheless, a covenant with sin and 
death. 7 ' 

Similar to this is the opinion of the Courts in the United 
States : 

" The whole course of legislation on this subject prevents any 
presumption being indulged that this traffic, like other employ- 
ments, adds to the wealth of the nation, or to the convenience of 
the public. The presumption is thus declared in almost ex- 
press terms, to be that the traffic is injurious *o the public interests, 
and hence the rule protecting other employments does not 
apply to this one, and therefore it cannot be said to be within 
the rule." — Supreme Court of Indiana, Harrison et al. v. Lock- 
hart. 

And Justice Grier, as before cited : " If a loss of revenue 
should accrue to the United States from a diminished consump- 
tion of ardent spirits, she vvill be a gainer a thousandfold in 
health, wealth, and happiness of the people." 

* Bacchus Dethroned, p, 257. 



440 Alcohol in History. 

And Gladstone is reported to have said to a deputation 
of Brewers, when they triumphantly asked him what he 
would do without the liquor revenue : " Give me a nation 
of sober Englishmen, and I will take care of the revenue." 

Fow^ell quotes the late Canon S to well, as saying, in a 
lecture : 

"If the Government can control drunkenness, it ought to do 
so. If it does not, it is afraid of its revenue. What will be lost 
will come back tenfold, in consequence of the promotion of 
honest industry." And he adds : " This opinion received ample 
confirmation some years' ago in Ireland, where, through the 
labors of Father Mathew and other great and good men, the 
consumption of liquor decreased amazingly, and yet the 
revenue improved. In the year ending January 5th, 1839, 
shortly before which period the reformation commenced, the 
produce from licenses was £128,494. Year by year this amount 
was reduced, till the year ending January 5th, 1842, the pro- 
duce was only £95,980, being a total reduction upon the three 
years of £32,514. In the year ending January 5th, 1839, the 
amount received from the tax on malt was, £289,869: in the 
year ending January 5th, 1842, it stood at £165,153, making a 
total decrease in the three years, of £124,716. With regard to 
spirits, the revenue for the year ending January 5th, 1839, was 
£1,510,092; in the year ending January 5th, 1842, the amount 
was reduced to £964,711, being a decrease in the three years of 
£545,381. The whole decrease of the revenue from spirit 
licenses, malt, and spirits, during the five years ending Janu- 
ary 5th, 1S42, amounted to £682,611. Yet notwithstanding this 
very heavy reduction, arising from the success of the temper- 
ance movement, there was a large increase of revenue from the 
increased produce of other excisable articles ; the revenue for 
1841 was, £4,107,866, which increased in 1842, to £4,198,689, 
showing a total increase of £90,823. The revenue on tea alone 
for the year ending January 5th, 1842, had increased by 
£80,639.""* 

There is probably, therefore, no more senseless plea, 
than that the revenues of a country will fall off if the 
liquor traffic is destroyed ; as there is certainly no more 
false pretence than that duties, taxes, and license fees for 
intoxicants, enrich any public treasury. 

* Ibid, p. 260. 



Prohibitory Liquor Laws. 441 

V. A very common objection, and one sometimes urged 
qnite as persistently by men who claim to be opposed to 
the liquor traffic, as by those engaged in that traffic, is, 
that a Prohibitory Law is in advance of, and opposed by, 
public opinion. If it be conceded, for the purpose of a full 
and fair consideration of this objection, that public opinion 
is opposed to Prohibitory Liquor Laws, we shall also be 
confronted by this fact : that there is nothing peculiar in 
such laws to distinguish them from legislation levelled 
against other vices antagonistic to private and public good, 
and that the fact that ethical laws in general, arouse 
opposition, is never urged by right-minded men against 
their enactment and enforcement. Says the Rev. James 
Smith, M. A. : 

u Among the ancient Jews and the early Christians, ethical 
principles had to be applied in an age and in circumstances very 
different from ours ; but these principles themselves do not par- 
take of the narrowness by which every individual, nationality, 
or xDeriod, must be more or less characterized ; they are catholic 
in their character and adaptation, and are at all times in ad- 
vance of the highest attained morality. They possess, more- 
over, an educating and elevating power, so that the honest ap- 
plication of them, in the most untoward circumstances, and 
from the very lowest starting point, will tend to ameliorate the 
condition and to elevate the character of those who apply 
them." * 

Take the laws set forth in the Ten Commandments, as 
illustrative of the truth of this. These laws, given prima- 
rily to the Israelites, were promulgated at the time of their 
most manifest lack of harmony with an endorsement of 
them ; and they were held to a rigid observance of their re- 
quirements, even when with almost entire unanimity they 
attempted to violate them, and often foolishly thought 
themselves successful in their revolt. Centuries of slavery 
had degraded and demoralized the Hebrews, and the 
opinions formed in such a state of servitude, were for a 

* The Temperance Reformation and its claims upon the Chris- 
tian Church. Pp. 256-7. 



442 Alcohol in History* 

long time in opposition to the high demands of the laws 
of Jehovah. But by degrees these laws became their 
educators, and led them to better thoughts and to purer 
deeds. Who shall say that Almighty Wisdom was at 
fault in framing laws so far in advance of popular opinion ? 
We have already seen that those who have been most 
active in the Temperance cause, and especially those who 
have faithfully advocated Moral Suasion, and have sought 
by such means to educate the popular nrind, confess a con- 
viction that law is needed to supplement their efforts even 
in this direction. Their judgment is certainly entitled to 
consideration. The practical operation of the Prohibitory 
Law confirms the wisdom of that judgment. Senator Frye, 
State Attorney of Maine, for ten years, says of the law in 
that State : 

"It has gradually created a public sentiment against both 
selling and drinking, so that the large majority of moderate, 
respectable drinkers, have become abstainers." And he adds : 
"No law will enforce itself, but if enforced, its tendency is to 
create public sentiment." 

And Judge Davis, of the same State, says of the Prohi- 
bitory Laws : 

As teachers of the public conscience, the standard of which is 
seldom higher than human law, their value is above all price. 
Many a man refrains from buying intoxicating liquors when he 
wants them simply because he must buy of a violater of the 
law ; and this is often the secret of his opposition to the law. 
He does not like to give his conscience a chance to appeal to. 
such a law. It tends to make both buying and selling disrepu- 
table. It holds up the standard of right, and puts the brand of 
infamy upon the wrong. He is a blind observer of the forces 
that govern in human life who does not see the moral power of 
penal law, even when extensively violated, in teaching virtue 
and restraining vice." 

The quotations previously made from the writings of 
Sheldon Amos, show conclusively that all license laws 
demoralize public sentiment, by giving to vice the sanction 
of legalized protective legislation. A review of the history 
of the American people for the last thirty years corroborates 



Prohibitory Liquor Laivs. 443 

the fact that law is a most effective educator. When the 
politicians of 1850 secured the enactment of the infamous 
Fugitive Slave Bill, how it debauched and demoralized the 
public opinion of the country. Everywhere it made 
eminent men and women leaders in jsociety, bitter pro-sla- 
very apologists. But since that law has been abolished, and 
laws in defence of universal liberty have taken its place, 
what a change has come over public opinion ; for who is 
not now a defender of such liberty, and also quite solicitous 
to be regarded as having always maintained that position ! 
Sheldon Amos has some remarks on this subject, which 
are worth remembering : 

"This subtle agency of public opinion does not owe its power 
to tlie width, the representative character, nor still less to the 
inherent worth of the opinion itself. It owes its power rather 
to the nearness of the public concerned, and to the concentra- 
tion of its movements. Thus to a school-boy, his school-fellows, 
at least as much as his masters, and far more than his parents, 
supply the guage of right thinking and right acting. To a 
workman, his fellow-operatives ; to a soldier, his comrades ; to 
a lawyer or doctor, the members of their several professions ; to 
a whole people, their public writers, their magistrates and their 
legislators, determine the standard not only of right or wrong 
conduct in the greater crises of action, but of just or unjust, 
benevolent or harsh, becoming or unbecoming, thinking, feeling, 
and acting at every moment of life. The bearing of this on 
the present subject, (Legalized Prostitution,) is obvious. Vice 
grows quite as much by mora] as by material opportunities. 
A clear and broadly diffused public sentiment in favor of purity 
is one of the strongest fences against impurity; while on the other 
hand, public callousness, not to say laxity, on the subject, is a 
vehement stimulus to vice. It need then hardly be pointed out 
that, whether in the language of law or of literature, all formal 
recognition of social vice as anything but an evil determinedly 
to be combatted at every point, as a gross, temporary and unnat- 
ural excrescence on civilized society, buoys up the interested 
public opinion already pledged to countenance it, and affords to 
vice itself the most direct and unremitting stimulus." — Pp. 12, 
13. 

The application of this to public opinion on the subject 
of Temperance, especially its bearing on Prohibitorv 



444 * Alcohol in History. 

Legislation, is as significant as it possibly can be to any 
otlier theme. Neglect of the nse of every educational fa- 
cility, and especially neglect or refusal to put the legislative 
stamp of crime on the liquor traffic, vitiates and destroys 
all effort at intellectual enlightenment or moral suasion j 
while determination to deal with it by law, as an appalling 
vice and a foe to the interests of society, is the best and wis- 
est guide to a just public opinion in regard to its enormity. 

VI. Another common objection to the Prohibitory Law, 
is, that it is not, and cannot be, enforced. This is fre- 
quently stated by the various Liquor Associations, as see 
preceding extracts from their proceedings. Why, then, the 
creation of such associations on purpose to prevent the en- 
actment of such a law ? Why the confessed expenditure of 
tens of thousands of dollars to defeat attempted legislation 
of this kind ? Are not such facts far more significant of 
what is true in regard to the efficiency of the law, than the 
blustering denials of its power can be? Men are not 
likely to band together and lavishly spend money in oppo- 
sition to that which is inoperative. " The children of this 
world " are far too wise to be guilty of such folly ; and we 
may be sure, that, whatever their pretensions to the con- 
trary, they are not thus fighting what they believe to be a 
shadow. 

But, if it could be made to appear that the Prohibitory 
Law is successfully evaded in some localities, that at- 
tempted prosecutions of its violations failed- of conviction 
in some instances, that combinations, secrecy, the timidity 
or dishonesty of the officers of the law, or any other cause, 
operates to produce the non-enforcement of Prohibitory 
Laws, what then ? Is that a fate peculiar to those law T s 
and unknown to other enactments ? Or, is it not just what 
happens to all kinds of criminal legislation? Would 
you, therefore, repeal all criminal law ? And if not, why 
make an exception in this instance ? Judge Davis, of 
Maine, says truly : 



Proidbuory Liquor Laics. 445 

" Those who denounce the Maine Law, because it is not en- 
forced, little know how plainly it can be seen what spirit they 
are of. The whole secret of their opposition is generally a fear 
that it will be enforced, or a desire for indulgence, without 
feeling that they are causing it to be violated. For they are 
still more dissatisfied when it is enforced. In this State the 
law was executed vigorously from 1851 to 1856 — a rather long 
time, Dr. Bacon might presume, for the broom to e sweep 
clean ? because it was ' new. J And it has never been so 
thoroughly executed as it was in 1855, when the same men were 
fiercest in their opposition who now oppose it on the ground 
that it is not enforced. 

"And they show the same inconsistency in another way. 
For there are other laws, of which they never complain, to 
which this objection might be made with equal force. 

" Penal laws are divided into two classes in this respect. 
Those of one class are enforced without any general effort in 
the community ; while those of the other class are not. The 
reason is easily stated. 

u 1. When the offence injures some one, in person, or property, 
like larceny, arson, or murder, the friends of the injured party, 
and the whole community, are interested in bringing the offen- 
der to punishment. 

"2. But in the other class of crimes, like gambling, licen- 
tiousness, and selling intoxicating liquors, there is no injured 
party anxious to have the guilty punished. These offences can 
be committed secretly ; and all the parties are interested in 
concealing them. They are, therefore, detected with difnculty, 
and are punished only by special effort. And, especially in 
cities and large towns, the laws against them are but partially 
enforced. 

" The Maine Law is not peculiar in this respect. There is 
not a large city in the country in which there are not scores of 
gambling-houses and houses of ill-fame, the existence of which 
is well known to the inhabitants, and to the authorities ; and 
yet the laws against them are not enforced. Are the laws, 
therefore, wrong ? And ought they to be changed into license 
laws ? The truth is (and Temperance men must not forget it,) 
this class of laws will always be extensively violated. The 
Maine Law, even now, is enforced far more thoroughly than the 
license laws ever were. In proportion to the number of people 
participating in the evil to be suppressed, it is enforced as well 
in this State as are the laws to prevent licentiousness." * 

* The Maine Law Vindicated, pp. 5, 6, 



446 Alcoliol in History. 

Elsewhere lie is reported to have said, and at a later date 

than the above : 

il The Maine Law has produced one hundred times more visi- 
ble improvement in the character, condition, and prosperity of 
our people than any other law that was ever enacted." 

Recently, (the Fall of 1880, ) there have been some 
crooked experiences in the execution of the law in one 
locality in Maine. Hon. Neal Dow, thus calls attention to 
what is said of them, and to reasons explaining them, in the 
"Advance : " 

"The following paragraph is cut from the Congregationalist. 
Similar paragraphs have been going the rounds of the religious 
and secular press, the object being, I suppose, to show that the 
liquor traffic, the grog-shop, the drunkard-factories, cannot be 
suppressed by law, nor even diminished in number ; and that, 
therefore, they ought to be licensed by the State, and sanctified 
by statute. It seems to me not a little singular that many of 
the papers which eagerly give currency to such paragraphs as 
this, afford no room for anything upon the temperance side. 
Now for the slip alluded to : 

" l A most trustworthy Western friend, who has been spending 
some little time in Bangor, Me., and who had considerable in- 
terest in satisfying himself how the i Maine law' is now working 
in practice in a place of that size, informed us, this week, that 
he is satisfied that there are from two to three hundred places 
in that city where intoxicating liquors are sold as openly as in 
Boston or New York. As there must be nearly or quite 20,000 
inhabitants in Bangor, that would give an average of one open 
rum-shop (say) to about every eighty-three inhabitants. He 
further stated that the usual intoxicants had their usual place 
upon the printed bill of fare at the hotel where he boarded. It 
would seem to be in order for some one to rise and explain.' 

" The writer of the above paragraph gives it as a sample of 
the way the ' Maine Law is now working in practice ! ' I won- 
der the writer did not see that it was a sample only of the way 
the grog-shops flourish in places where the Maine law does not 
work at all, where it is not enforced. Portland has a population 
of about 35,000; why did not the writer point to it as a demon- 
stration of the failure of the law ? Here (Portland) the sheriff 
and police hunt rumsellers vigorously, wrest from them heavy 
fines, and inflict upon them long terms of imprisonment. In 
Bangor the officers and the authorities, high and low, the 



Prohibitory Liquor Laws. 447 

churches assenting to it, make bargains with the rum sellers, 
giving them immunity from the law in exchange for votes. 
Bangor is eminently a city of churches and piety — I mean what 
goes by that name — and yet the women and children and the 
dearest interests of thousands of the people there, are deliber- 
ately given up to wretchedness and ruin, in exchange for votes. 
That's the way 'the Maine law operates/ says the writer of the 
above paragraph, and thousands of others as foolish, as 
thoughtless, as illogical as he. 

" No, that is the way < license ' operates ; the understanding is 
between the authorities and the rumsellers, that the shops shall 
be shut up, sharp, at ten o'clock at night, and that no drunken 
man shall be permitted to come out of them into the street. The 
city authorities have deliberately resolved that the Maine law 
shall not ' work ' there at all, directly or indirectly. They delib- 
erately violate their oath of office, which requires them to enforce 
the law — all laws. They deliberately nullify the law ; they de- 
liberately assume to set aside the authority of the Legislature and 
to trample the constitution under foot. By doing this they de- 
liberately, in the full knowledge of what they do, set an exam- 
ple to every rowdy, blackguard and rascal, of disregard of law 
and order, of contempt for law, and the rights of the people. It 
is the right of the people that the laws shall be observed; it is 
the right of every man to enjoy the protection of the law against 
the liquor trade, ' the gigantic crime of crimes.' But all this is 
ignored in Bangor, with the deliberate assent and consent of 
Bangor piety and morality, without which it could not be 
done." 

This, then, is the secret of alleged failure, — the success 
of interested liquor dealers in debauching public officers ! 
Smugglers might, perhaps, have in some instances, thus 
corrupted customs officers, and with equal justice and fair- 
ness boast of unsuccessful revenue laws, but the boast is not 
to the credit of either the tempters or the tempted, and least 
of all does it argue defect in the law. A conspiracy to 
overthrow the Government is no proof that the Constitution 
of the land is weak and worthless. 

Something akin to this determination on the part of 
those interested in the infamous business to break down 
the force of the law against their trade, was manifest nearly 
a hundred and fifty years ago, in Great Britain. Lord 



448 Alcohol in History, 

Chesterfield, in the famous Parliamentary debates already 
referred to, in answer to an argument that in consequence 
of the non-enforcement of the provisions of the Gin law, 
another and different enactment was necessary, said : 

" In order to discover whether this consequence be necessary, it 
must first he inquired why the present law is of no force ? For, 
rny lords, it will he found, on reflection, that there are certain 
degrees of corruption that may hinder the effects of the best 
laws. The magistrates may be vicious and forbear to enforce 
that law by which themselves are condemned ; they may be in- 
dolent and inclined rather to connive at wickedness, by which 
they are not injured themselves, than to repress it by a labori- 
ous exertion of their authority ; or they may be timorous, and, 
instead of awing the vicious, may be awed by them. In any 
of these cases, my lords, the law is not to be condemned for its 
inefficiency ; since it only fails by the defect of those who are 
to direct its operations. The best and most important laws will 
contribute very little to the security or happiness of a people, if 
no judges of integrity and spirit can be found amongst them. 
' Even the most beneficial and useful bill that ministers can pos- 
sibly imagine : a bill for laying on our estates a tax of a fifth 
part of their yearly value, would be wholly without effect, if 
collectors could not be obtained. I am, therefore, my lords, yet 
doubtful whether the inefficacy of the law now existing neces- 
sarily obliges us to provide another ; for those that declared it 
to be useless, owned at the same time that no man endeavored 
to enforce it, so that perhaps its only defect may be that it will 
not execute itself." * 

And Lord Carteret, after citing the attempts of the liquor 
sellers to weary out the Magistrates by submitting to the 
fines and imprisonments for violations of the law, and at 
once putting some other seller in their shops, thus describes 
another expedient resorted to by them to render the law 
inoperative : 

" At length, my lords, instead of wearying the magistrates, 
they grew weary themselves, and determined no longer to bear 
persecution for their enjoyments, but to resist that law which 
they could not evade, and to which they would not submit. 
They therefore determined to mark out all those who by their 

* Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1744, p. 7. 



Prohibitory Liquor Laws. 449 

information promoted its execution, as public enemies, as 
wretches who for the sake of a reward, carried on a trade of 
perjury and persecution, aud who harassed their innocent 
neighbors only for carrying on a lawful employment for sup- 
plying the wants of the poor, relieving the weariness of the 
laborer, administering solace to the dejected, and cordials to 
the sick. The word was therefore given that no informer 
should be spared ; and when an offender was summoned by the 
civil officers, crowds watched at the door of the magistrate to 
rescue the prisoner, and to discover and seize the witness upon 
whose testimony he was convicted 5 and unfortunate was the 
wretch who, with the imputation of this crime upon him, fell 
into their hands. It is well remembered by every man who at 
that time was conversant in this city, with what outcries of 
vengeance an informer was pursued in the public streets, and 
in the open day : with what exclamations of triumph he was 
seized, and with what rage of cruelty he was tormented. One 
instance of their cruelty I very particularly remember. As 
a man was passing along the streets, the alarm was given that 
he was an informer against the retailers of spirituous liquors. 
The populace were immediately gathered as in a time of com- 
mon danger, and united in the pursuit as of a beast of prey, 
which it was criminal not to destroy. The man discovered, 
either by consciousness or intelligence, his danger, and fled 
for his life with the utmost precipitation ; but no housekeeper 
durst afford him shelter ; the cry increased upon him on all 
hands, and the populace rolled after him like a torrent not to 
be resisted, and he was upon the point of being overtaken, and 
like some others, destroyed, when one of the greatest persons in 
the nation, hearing the tumult, and inquiring the reason, opened 
his doors to the distressed fugitive, and sheltered him from a 
cruel death. Soon afterwards there was a stop put to all in- 
formation ; no man dared afterwards, for the sake of reward, 
expose himself to the fury of the people, and the use of these 
destructive liquors was no longer obstructed." * 

VII. But perhaps the most formidable obstacle to the suc- 
cess of Prohibitory Law, is found in the fact that the liquor 
traffic has obtained control of the great political parties of 
the United States. The action, so often repeated, of the 
Brewers' Association, in resolving to vote for no man of 
any party who is in favor of Prohibitory Legislation, has 

* Ibid, Dec. 1743, pp. 635, 636. 
29 



450 Alcohol in History. 

been no idle and unmeaning boast ; but has been carried 
into effect not only by themselves, but very generally by 
those engaged in various branches of the liquor trade. 
And the result has been two-fold, — the immediate success 
of the party which has nominated men known to favor the 
liquor interest, — and a zealous effort on the part of Demo- 
crats and Republicans to bid for and secure the votes of 
the liquor-makers and the liquor-sellers. Except in the 
State of Maine, where for several years it has been impos- 
sible for any party to carry an election without the aid of 
the votes of Prohibitionists, the Democracy has for many 
years uniformly arrayed itself on the liquor side. 

The Democratic National Convention* in 1876, declared : 
" The vital principle of the Republic is .... in the 
liberty of individual conduct from sumptuary laws." 

Occasionally, as in Massachusetts, in the nomination of 
Thomas Talbot for Governor, the Republicans have dared 
to put forth Prohibitory candidates ; but since the result of 
the special action just indicated — the desertion of a suffi- 
cient number of Republican distillers, brewers and liquor- 
sellers to the Democratic side, and the consequent defeat 
of Mr. Talbot, — the experiment is not repeated. 

The Republican National Convention of 1872, made the 
following declaration in its platform : 

u The Kepublican party propose to respect the rights reserved 
"by the people to themselves as carefully as the powers delegated 
by them to the State and to the Federal Government. It disap- 
proves of a resort to unconstitutional laws for the purpose of 
removing evils by interference with the rights not surrendered 
by the people to either State or National Government." 

What did this mean ? was a question soon urged with so 
much persistence in various quarters, as to elicit an answer 
from its author, in which, although he was confronted by 
the fact that every Prohibitory law submitted to the highest 
tribunals in the land, — the Supreme Court of the United 
States, and the Courts of Final Appeal in the several 
States, they had declared that those laws were in harmony 



Prohibitory Liquor Laws. 451 

with the Constitution, — the author of the resolution, Mr, 
Raster, of Illinois, gave this explanation of its meaning : 
" It was adopted by the platform committee with the full 
and explicit understanding that its purpose was the dis- 
countenancing of all so-called temperance (prohibitory,) 
and Sunday laws." 

The " Brewers' Association," in session the same month, 
in New York City, were addressed by their President, in 
regard to party politics. Alluding to the Democratic 
party, he said : 

" The presidential election which takes place this fall may 
change the aspects of that party. At the Cincinnati Convention 
they have placed at the head of their ticket, a man (Horace 
Greeley,) whose antecedents will warrant him a pliant tool in 
the hands of the Temperance Party ; and none of yon, gentlemen, 
can support him. It is necessary for yon to make an issue at this 
election throughout the entire country ; and although I have 
belonged to the Democratic party ever since I have had a vote, 
I would sooner vote for the Republican ticket than cast my 
ballot for such a candidate." 

The Executive Committee also reported concerning the 
u many dangers which threatened their trade w from adverse 
legislation, and added: 

"No trade, in view of its political power, is better calculated 
to exercise a marked influence on the elections than yours, and 
it is your duty and a matter self-defence to take a direct and 
active part in the political revolution and transformation of 
parties, so that in this direction, too, the desired reforms may 
be achieved." 

The leading public journals of the Eepublican party 
endorse this non-prohibitory position of that party. In 
1875, Harpers' Weekly said : 

"The Republican party is not a prohibition party. As the 
best sentiment of the country agrees that the subject shall be 
legislatively treated by authorizing a license system, the Re- 
publicans would make that system as just and efficient as prac- 
ticable. Further than this as a national party it will not go, 
and the attempt to buy the prohibition support by adopting a 
prohibition platform, could end only in the destruction of the 



452 Alcohol in History. 

party. This is perfectly well understood by the bulk of Repub- 
licans, and they will act accordingly." 

And again, referring to those interested in the liquor 
traffic, it said : 

" Unless the Republican party is ready to announce its own 
death, it cannot consent to legislate adversely to the interests 
of this class of people." 

The New York Times said : " None of the probable candidates 
are likely to be in favor of prohibitory laws. The temperance 
societies could not possibly get an out-and-out temperance man 
nominated. They know this as well as we do." 

And the Chicago Tribune: " More than the third tarni, more 
tnan the Credit Mobilier, more than salary grabbing, more than 
Butlerism, more than all other causes put together, Prohibition 
has undermined and destroyed the Republican party ; Prohibi- 
tion must be prohibited by the Republican party." 

In view of this, how marvellous it is that whenever an 
attempt is made to induce independent action on this great 
question of the liquor traffic, the cry is invariably raised : 
" Do not thus jeopardize the success of the Republican 
party, for it alone is the party favorable to temperance 
views, the only party from which the Prohibitionists can 
hope for legislation favorable to their views." And how 
stupid professed temperance men in the Republican ranks 
are to believe and act on such an assurance.* And what a 
deception is practised when the assertion is made, as it so 
often is, that all the Prohibitory Legislation we have ever 
had has been made for us by the Republicans. The facts 
in the case are not difficult to ascertain. See how plainly 
they put the stamp of falsehood on this assertion : 

" 1st. Not a single Prohibitory law, (we don't mean qualified 
license) now on a statute book in this country, is the work of 
the Republican party. It must be recollected that the Repub- 
lican party is less than twenty-five years old, dating back only 
to 1856, and every Prohibitory statute we now have was passed 
before that time. The Democrats controlled Maine, when the 
law of that State was adopted, as they did the State of Ohio, 

* See Centennial Temperance Volume, pp. 339-341. 



Prohibitory Liquor Laws. 453 

when the provision against license was inserted in its constitu- 
tion. To the Democratic, Whig, and American parties, and 
frequently to a combination, are all our present Prohibitory 
statutes attributable. In Massachusetts, and one or two other 
States, the Republican party has done some temperance legis- 
lating, but when the lager beer pressure was brought to bear 
upon it, it has made haste to reverse its action. 

"2d. While the Republican party has added nothing to 
our list of Prohibitory laws, it has, on the other hand, mate- 
rially reduced it. In Michigan, Connecticut, Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island, it is responsible for the repeal of such laws, 
thus carrying four States over to Rum's side. In Pennsylvania 
it had the Governor and Senate, while the Democrats had the 
lower House, when local Option was stricken down. In a num- 
ber of the States, including Xew York, it has made important 
legislative concession to the Rum interest. 

" 3rd. But the Republican party is chargeable with more 
than four rumselling States. During the time it has had the 
power, the President and both Houses of Congress being of its 
politics, several new States have been added to the Union, the 
fundamental laws of which it controlled, but all of which it has 
permitted to come in under the Rum curse. In one instance, it 
was careful to insist that the constitution of a new State with 
less than fifty negroes and mulattoes should have a perpetual 
prohibition against slavery ; but required nothing against 
Rum, although over one thousand gin mills were in operation 
in the district legislated on. 

"4th. And beside new States, it has organized several Terri- 
tories, for all of which a Republican Congress has made the 
laws, and in not one of which is Rumselling prohibited. The 
great crime of the Democratic party, in Republican eyes, used 
to be that it was willing to let slavery enter new Territory. 

" 5th. For nearly twenty years, the Republican party has 
controlled and legislated for the District of Columbia, and dur- 
ing the whole of that time the Xation has been dishonored by 
notorious drunkenness under the very shadow of the Capitol. 

"6th. For nearly twenty years it has permitted intoxicating 
liquors to be openly brought into the country, and the quantity 
annually imported has been constantly increasing. 

"7th. It has been the first national party to put a plank in 
favor of Rum, and against the Sabbath in its national platform. 
(See the loth resolution of the Philadelphia Platform of 1872, 
and its author's explanation, elsewhere given.) 

"8th. In many States it has legislated directly in the interest 



454 Alcohol in History. 

of Rum. In New York it put the Wine and Spirit Traders' act 
on the statute book. 

"9th. In many states it has got the vote of temperance peo- 
ple for its ticket on the express promise that it would, if suc- 
cessful, legislate for Prohibition, (in New York and Ohio its 
promise to give Local Option is well known,) and then has 
purposely violated its word, and worked directly for Rum." 

This is the record of the party which makes such boaste 
of interestedness in the Temperance cause. This is the 
manner in which it has helped along the cause of Prohibi- 
tion ! The following table, compiled by Hon. James 
Black, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, shows when, and by 
what political parties the several Prohibitory Laws have 
been enacted : 

Dates of Political Political Char, 

Order States Enactment Governor Status of Legislature. 

Maine 1846 . . Anderson .... Democrat . . Democrat 

Delaware Feb. 1847 . . Houston Whig Whig 

1st.. Maine.. June 2, 1851. Hubbard Democrat. .Democrat 

2nd . Minnesota March, 1852 . . Ramsey Democrat . . Democrat 

3rd .Rhode Island. .Mar 7. 1852. .Allen Democrat. . Democrat 

4th. .Massachusetts. May 22, 1852. .Win throp Whig Dem. & Free SoiL 

5th. .Vermont Nov. 23, 1852. .Fairbanks.. .Whig Whig 

6th.. Michigan Feb. 12, 1853.. McClelland.. Democrat. ..Democrat 

7th. Connecticut. . June 16, 1854..Dutton Whig Dem. & An-Neb 

8th.. Indiana Feb. 8, 1854.. Wright Whig... ..." 

9th. . Delaware Feb. 27, 1855 . . Causey American . . .American 

10th.. Iowa Feb. 1855.. Grime's Whig and.. Whig & Repub. 

Repub 

11th. .Nebraska Apr 1, 1855.. Izard Democrat. .Democrat 

12:h. . New York. . . . Apr 9, 1855 . . Clark Fusion Whig 

13th. .New Hamp July 14, 1855. .Metcalf American. . Amer, & Repub. 

14th. .Illinois Feb. 16, 1855 . . American. . Whig & An-Neb. 

The laws in these States numbered one to fourteen, w T ere 
all in operation when the Republican Party became a 
National Party, in nominating John C. Fremont for Presi- 
dent in 1856. Those laws, except in the States of Maine, 
Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire, have all been repealed 
by the Kepublican Party. Behold its record, and boast of 
it if you can ! 

Conclusion. — We have thus passed in review the His- 
tory of this great Scourge, Intemperance; have put our- 
selves in possession of some idea of its numerous instru- 
mentalities, of its age, extent, and disastrous influences 
wherever it exists ) have noted its effect on religion, morals. 



Conclusion. 455 

education and general welfare ; its responsibility for crime, 
pauperism, idiocy, and all other forms of disease and 
degradation ; and gained a glimpse of its enormous drain 
on the resources and prosperity of the nation, and its 
damage to the physical, mental and moral vigor of the 
individual. We have also traced the history and develop- 
ment of the many agencies, which, from most remote anti- 
quity to the present time, have been employed for the sup- 
pression of the Drink Traffic and of Drinking Customs and 
Habits ; and have seen the inadequacy and worthlessness 
of many of them ) the character and extent of the opposition 
arrayed against those which are most efficient ; the blind- 
ness of political parties to the great evil, and their willing- 
ness to sacrifice the best interests of Society at the bidding 
of the Rum Power. 

From all this array of evidence, we shall, if wise, draw 
some conclusions both with regard to fact, and to duty. 
The following are believed to be legitimate and neces- 
sary : 

I. The Liquor Traffic is an unmitigated curse, without 
one bright spot or redeeming feature in all its history, 
and ought, therefore, to be regarded and treated as a 
crime. 

II. Total Abstinence from all Alcoholic beverages, is 
the only wise rule for any man or woman to adopt. 

III. The State, if it does its duty to its citizens in 
relieving them from oppressive taxation, from the peril of 
insecurity in their possessions, of danger to their persons, 
of general demoralization and shame, must prohibit the 
manufacture and sale of all intoxicants as beverages. 

IV. Every citizen, knowing that, in a Republic, he is a 
part of the Government, and that everything pertaining to 
its laws and their execution, is determined by the citizens' 
votes, must feel and manifest a personal responsibility for 
what the State is and does ) and knowing, also, that Intern- 



456 Alcohol in History. 

perance is a Crime more seductive and far-reaching in its 
influence, and more disastrous in its results than are all 
other evils that can possibly oppose the best interests of a 
people, must, in his political theories and acts, be a Pro- 
hibitionist. 

V. Provision should be made in all our educational in- 
stitutions, for the instruction of the young in the Nature 
and Effect of all Alcoholic Beverages. 



INDEX. 



Abyssinia, Intoxicants used in, 34, 36, 37, 41, 42. 

Adams, John, On the number and evils of licensed houses, 
195. 

Addison, Joseph, On wine as inflaming the passions, 229. 

Adulterations of wines, and other intoxicants, 59-72. 

Africa, Intoxicants used in, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41. 

Alabama, Local Option in, 380. 

Aipimakakara, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Alcohol, Not created by distillation, 56 ; Percentage of in vari- 
ous liquors, 59 ; Significance of the word, 57. 

Ale, Amount brewed in England, in 1688, 168 ; Different names 
for, 160 ; Song in praise of, in 16th century, 159. 

Ales, Religious fairs, so called, 154. 

Algobara, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Aloes, Intoxicants made from, 31. 

Almonds, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Amalekites, Intemperance of, 123. 

Ambrose, St., On wine and sensualism, 229. 

American Temperance Society, Organized, 285. 

American Temperance Union, Organized, 310; Disbanded, 348. 

American Total Abstinence Pledge, Adopted in England, 311. 

Ames, Oliver and Sons, On contrasted effects of license and 
prohibition, 405. 

Aminata Muscaria, Disgusting intoxicants made from, 31. 

Amos, the Prophet, Denounces the use of wine, 121. 

Amos, Sheldon, On the evils of license, 382, 385; On public 
opinion, 443. 

Ananas, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Anglo-Saxon, Common dinner customs, 145; Monasteries and 
nunneries, nurseries of vice, 144; Royal feast of the, 145. 

Anstie, Dr., His definition of moderate drinking, 27; On ten- 
dency of drinking to destroy conscience, 230. 

(457) 



458 Index. 

Antidotes to drunkenness, 260. 

Ants, Used in Sweden to flavor brandy, 33. 

Apples, Intoxicants made from, 32. 

Aquinus, Thomas, St., Defines temperance, 31. 

Arabia, Intoxicants used in, 33, 34, 37, 40. 

Arrachaca, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Arrack, An intoxicant used in Persia, 92. 

Ardent Spirits, Reasons given for the use of, in Persia, 93. 

Armstrong Rev. Lebbeus, Organizer of early Temperance So- 
ciety, 281. 

Arnold, Arthur, On arrack drinking in Persia, 93. 

Artichokes, Intoxicants made from, 32. 

Aryan Races, Intoxicants used by, 33. 

Asia, Intoxicants used in, 39. 

Athenseus, His banquet of the learned, an authority on ancient 
drinking customs, 96 ; Describes a Roman feast, 133. 

Athenian Women, Drunkenness of, 109. 

Austria, Intoxicants used in, 34. 

Ava, Intoxicants made from, 32. 

Babylonians, Intemperance of the, 123. 

Bacchus, Ancient legend on his experiments with the vine, 
98; Called the " Many Named," 99; Festivals of, suppressed 
by law, 100 ; His drunken foster-father, 99 ; How represented 
in ancient paintings, 99 ; Identified by Herodotus with Osiris, 
94 ; Mysteries taught by, 97 ; Origin of the vine attributed to, 
98 ; Said to have invented wine out of revenge, 98. 

Bacon, Lord, On wine as a fuel to sensuous desires, 229. 

Bacon, Rev. Dr., On success of prohibition in Connecticut, 408. 

Bananas, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Band of Hope, The, 342. 

Banga, A common intoxicant used by the ancient Persians, 89. 

Bangueh, A Persian Intoxicant, 92. 

Barberries, Intoxicants made from, 33. 

Barbary States, Intoxicants used in, 32, 36, 37. 

Barbour's Statistics of intemperance in the churches, 203. 

Barley, Intoxicants made from, 33, 93. 

Batata Root, Intoxicants made from, 34. 

Beaumont, Dr., Experiments on the effects of alcohol on St. 
Martin, 304. 

Beecher, Rev. Dr. Lyman, On the injurious effects of moderate 
drinking, 17; On prohibition, 424. 

Beecher, Rev. II. Y\ 7 ., On prohibition, 426. 

Beer, Adulterations of, 70 ; Allowances of, to the monks in the 
10th century, 132 ; Early used in Egypt, 95 ; Early English 



Index, • 459 

license of sale of, 151; Julian's epigram on, 141 ; Manufacture 
of, in New York and on the Delaware, prohibited in 1644, 
190 ; Percentage of alcohol in, 54 ; Price of, in England in 
1200, fixed by law, 151 ; Production of, in the world, in 1879, 
210 ; Public tasters of, appointed, 151 ; The common drink in 
Paris up to the sixth century, 141; The use of, creates a de- 
mand for distilled liquors, 135, 357 ; Regulations for the brew- 
ing and sale of, by women, 151. 

Beer laws in England, in 1830, 358 ; Expected advantages of, 
358 ; Increased drunkenness caused by, 359. 

Beets, Intoxicants made from, 34. 

Benezet, Anthony, Writes in 1774 against the use of ardent 
spirits, 278: Attacks the use of fermented drinks, 278. 

Bentham, On the object of government, 386. 

Bid Ales, 155. 

Birch Sap, Intoxicants made from, 34. 

Birman Empire, Punishment of intemperance in, 271. 

Bishop of Oxford, On the duty of government to suppress vice, 
387. 

Boniface, St., Complains to the Archbishop, against intemper- 
ance, 143. 

Borneo, Intoxicants used in, 32. 

Brandy, From what made, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 42. 

Brazil, Intoxicants used in, 32, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41. 

Brewers, Confession of, that beer contains no nutritious quali- 
ties, 52 ; Frauds by, in the United States, 206. 

Brewery, One established by temperance men in 1828, 285. 

Bridget t, Rev. T. E., See Discipline of Drink. 

Bright, Hon. John, On the point where, in the use of intoxi- 
cants, it becomes a sin, 28. 

British American Order of Good Templars, 344. 

British and Foreign Society for the suppression of Intemper- 
ance, 318. 

British Teetotal Temperance Society, 316. 

British Troops in Boston, Drunkenness of, 196. 

Britons, Demoralization of, by the Romans, 141. 

Brougham, Lord, On the impossibility of improving the morals 
of the people, while fostering the be«?r trade, 359. 

Brown, Dr., On hereditary influence of intemperance, 252. 

Browne, Sir W. A. F., On hereditary influence of intemperance, 
255. 

Bruges, A curious sign over a brewery in, 135. 

Butler, Hon. B. F., On enforcement of the prohibitory law in 
Massachusetts, 404. 

Buxton, Charles, Esq., his testimony on the evils of moderate 



460 - Index. 

drinking, 19; On tlie cost and miseries of drinking in Eng- 
land, 174. 

Cadets of Temperance, The, 340. 

Canada, Early Moderation Society in, 286; Intoxicants used in, 
32. 

Canterbury, Abp. of, Liquors consumed at his enthronement, 
161. 

Caroline Co., Md., Success of prohibition in, 401. 

Carouse, Significance of the word, 1^8, ». 

Carpenter, Dr. Wm. B., On injurious effects of moderate drink- 
ing, 19 ; On relations of intemperance to disease, 241. 

Carteret, Lord, On personal violence inflicted by English 
liquor sellers, 448. 

Cashew-nut, Intoxicants made from, 34. 

Cassada, Intoxicants made from, 34. 

Catholic temperance movement in the U. S., 293, 334. 

Catron, Judge, On the constitutionality of prohibition, 372, 

Caucasus, Intoxicants used in, 34, 42. 

Cava, Intoxicants made from, 35. 

Cebatha berries, Intoxicants ma le from, 35. 

Chambers, Dr., On injurious effects of moderate drinking, 20. 

Chapin, Rev. Calvin, On Saeramental wine, 306. 

Chardin, Sir John, On cheapness and profuse use of wine in 
Persia, 91. 

Charles II., Drunkenness of, and of his court, 166. 

Cherries, Intoxicants made from, 35. 

Chesterfield, Lord, On the folly of taxing vice, 387; On argu- 
ment that large numbers are engaged in the liquor traffic, 
431 ; On the reason why stringent liquor-laws are not en- 
forced, 448. 

Cheyne, Dr., On the relation of intemperance to disease, 241. 

Chicago, Juvenile drinking in, 206. 

Chicago Times, The, on damage to the Eepublican party by 
prohibition, 452. 

Chili, Intoxicants used in, 32, 37, 39. 

China, Intoxicants used in, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 ; Intemperance 
in, 75; Penalties inflicted on drunkards in, 262; Prohibition 
in, 366. 

Cholera, The intemperate fall an easy prey to, 302. 

Christmas, Drunken observance of in Central N. Y. in 1769, 196. 

Church Ales, 155 ; The Sabbath desecrated by, 155. 

Church bells, Ringing of, by drunken Englishmen in the 1 6th 
century, 162. 

Churches, Barbour's statistics of intemperance in, 203 ; The 



Index. 461 

attitude of, one reason for the abandonment of Moderation 
societies, 305. 

Church of England, The clergy of, on prohibition, 429. 

Circassia, Intoxicants used in, 39. 

Clatnin, Gov., On increased drunkenness in Massachusetts under 
license, 405. 

Clark, Dr. B. J., Instrumental in organizing early temperance 
society, 286. 

Clerk Ales, 155. 

Clergy of England, The, denounced for frequenting taverns, 
152, 274 ; Dissolute manners of, 156. 

Clubs, Names of some of the most drunken and infamous, in 
England. 168, 170. 

Cocoanut-milk, Intoxicants made from, 35. 

Coffee-Houses, 351. 

Cook, Capt., On disgusting drink used in the Friendly Islands, 
35. 

Cook, Rev. Joseph, On prohibition, 427. 

Coles, Eobert, Curious punishment of, for drunkenness, 272. 

Combe, Dr. Andrew, his testimony against moderate drinking, 
20. 

Conclusions drawn from the facts noticed in this volume, 455. 

Congress, See United States. 

Congressional Temperance Society, Organization of, 286 ; Reor- 
ganized, 328. 

Connecticut, Landing of rum in, in 1650, resisted, 190; Prohibi- 
tion in, 376, 408 ; Farmers of, associate to discourage use of 
ardent spirits, 197. 

Convers, Gov., On results of prohibition in Vermont, 407. 

Copeland, Dr., On injurious effects of moderate drinking, 16. 

Cox, Dr. Hiram, On the relation of intemperance to insanity, 250. 

Crime caused by intemperance, 216, 229. 

Crown Lands, held on condition of supplying the King with 
liquors, 146. 

Danes, The, notorious drinkers, 148. 

Daniel, Judge, on constitutionality of prohibitory laws, 372. 

Darby, X. Y., Early temperance society^ in, 285. 

Dashaways, The, temperance society, so called, 345. 

Dates, Intoxicants made from, 35. 

David, King of Israel, domestic reasons for his reprobating the 

use of wine, 118. 
Davis, Hon. Judge Woodbury, on public opinion created by the 

Maine law, 441 ; On the successful enforcement of the law, 

400, 445. 



462 Index. 

Death-rate of the intemperate compared with that of the gen- 
eral population, 246. 

Defoucris, Drunken Bishop, epitaph on, 135. 

Delaware, Prohibition in, 373. 

Dele van, E. C, On drinking in modern Eome, 115. 

Democratic National Convention of 1876, denounces prohibi- 
tion, 450. 

Democratic party opposes prohibition, 460. 

Democritus, His definition of moderate drinking, 28. 

Denmark, Intoxicants used in, 34, 41. 

De Eohan, On German drunkenness, 130. 

De Thow, On the same, 130. 

Dingley, Gov., On success of Maine Law, 393. 

Dionysus, The name originally given to Bacchus, 99. 

Discipline of Drink, The, by Rev. T. E. Bridgett ; quotations 
from, 132, 143, 144, 150. 

Disease caused by intemperance, 240, 302. 

Distillation, Amount of, in England, in 1684, and increase in, 
to 1735, 168 ; Amount of, and revenue from in U. S. in 1791-2, 
199 ; Amount of, in 1810, 202 ; From 1802 to 1812, 203 ; First 
experiment in, 53 ; Forbidden to the Dutch on the Delaware, 
190 ; Forbidden in Ireland, 165. 

Distilled liquors, Use of, introduced into England, 164. 

Distilleries, Attempts to stop, in Pennsylvania, 197 ; Congress 
calls on the States to suppress, 197 ; Increase of, during the 
American Eevolution, 196 ; Early establishment of, in North 
America, 191. 

Dods, Dr. R. G., On evils of moderate drinking, 16. 

Doran's Table Traits, Extracts from, on drunkenness in Ger- 
many, 133. 

Dow, Hon. Neal, On evasion of the Maine Law, 446 ; On its suc- 
cess, 401. 

Drinking, Ancient excuses for, 110 ; Customs of, in the Southern 
States at the close of the American Eevolution, 201 ; Exces- 
sive, in Eome, 112. 

Drinking Code of the Germans, 129. 

Drinking habits, Cause of, in Pennsylvania, 191. 

Drinking pledges among the Germans, 129. 

Drinking Song in England, in 16th century, in praise of Ale, 
159. 

Drunk for a penny, Sign put up at English gin shops, 169. 

Drunkards, Penalties inflicted on, by law of Manu, 263 ; To be 
stoned to death by law of Moses, 261 ; To be put to death in 
China, 262. 

Drunkenness, Among the women of Athens, 109 ; Antidotes to, 



Index. 463 

260 ; Defined by the Saxons, 143 ; Of Noah, 116 ; Of Lot, 116 ; Of 
the British troops in Boston, 196 ; Personal penalties for, 261 ; 
Sermon by Dr. Increase Mather, on the sin of, 189. 

Drunkenness, Punishment of, In ancient Greece, 265 ; Pome, 
266; By the Mahometans, 267; In Germany, 268; England, 269 ; 
Scotland, 269 ; Ancient Mexico, 270 ; Sweden, 270; Society Is- 
lands, 271 ; Birman Empire, 271 ; North America, 271 ; Of 
Robert Coles, in Massachusetts, 1631-1634, 272 ; In Plymouth 
Colony, 272 ; In Pennsylvania, 272 ; By Ecclesiastical law, 273. 

Druggists, Largely engaged in the sale of intoxicants, 207. 

Dunlap, John, Temperance work of, in Scotland, 287. 

Dutch, The, in N. Y. and on the Delaware, accused by the In- 
dians of teaching them intemperance, 178. 

Dutton, Governor, On success of prohibition in Connecticut, 
408. 

East Indies, Intoxicants used in, 34, 41. 

Ecclesiastical penalties for drunkenness, 273. 

Edgar, the King, his efforts to diminish intemperance, 147. 

Edmunds, Dr. James, On the relations of intemperance to dis- 
ease, 242 ; To insanity, 250. 

Edwards county, Illinois, Success of prohibition in, 409. 

Edwards, Rev. Dr., On the failure of the moderation pledge, 
298. 

Egypt, Intoxicants used in, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39; Invention of 
drugged wines, in, 94 ; Conflicting testimony in regard to the 
early intoxicants of, 93 ; Wine used by the Pharaohs of, not 
intoxicating. 94; Testimony of the monuments and frescoes 
of, to the early cultivation of the vine for wine purposes, 95. 

Elah, King of Israel, Loses his life while intoxicated, 119. 

Elder-berries, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

Elizabeth, of England, Extravagant drinking at her banquets, 
161 ; Increase of drinking and of taverns in her reign, 132. 

Emerson, Mr., On success of prohibition in Caroline County, 
Maryland, 411. 

England, Intemperance in, 140, 176; Filthiness of common living 
in, in 16th century, 157 ; Drinking song of, in 16th century, 159; 
Extent and consequences of drinking in, in the reign of Eliza- 
beth, 160 ; Drunken debaucheries in the court of James I., It 
Introduction of use of distilled liquors in, 164; Tavern fi - 
quenting in the 17th century, 135 ; Drunkenness of, in time 
of Charles II., 166; Drunken clubs in, in 17th i 
Amount of ale brewed in, in 1688, 163; Gin drinking in, 1 
Lecky on the consequences of gin drinking in, 169 ; Appalling 
state of morals in, in 1735, 170, 172 ; Insufficiency of polica 



464 Index. 

force then, 171 ; Liquors used at elections in 1780. 173 ; Con- 
sumption of liquors in the 19th century, 173 ; Drink money 
of, for one year, 174 ; Punishment of drunkenness in, 269 ; 
Moderation Societies in, 291; Their failure, 300; Total Absti- 
nence Societies in, 311 ; Beer laws of, see Beer laws. 

English laborers, Proportion of wages, spent by, for intoxi- 
cants, 236. 

Epictetus, His definition of moderate drinking, 28. 

Epilobiiun, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

Ethiopia, Intoxicants used in, 34. 

Europe, Illegitimacy in, 232 ; Pauperism in, 233. 

Fairfield Association, Address of, in 1813, on the evils of intem- 
perance, 283, 297. 

Farrar, Canon, Cn prohibition, 430. 

Fermentation, Identical with decomposition, 54. 

Fermented drinks, Drunkenness on, in the United States, in 
1832, 299. 

Figs, Intoxican ts made from, 37. 

Fleet Prison Marriages, Number and iniquity of, 172. 

Flint, Dr. Austin, On intemperance and mental disease, 249. 

Florence, Intemperance in, 115. 

Forbes, Henry, Early temperance worker in England, 291. 

Formosa, Intoxicants made by the women of, 41. 

Framjee, On wine drinking of the Parsees of India, 93. 

France, Intoxicants used m, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41 ; Annual con- 
sumption of intoxicants in, 208 ; Pauperism in, 238. 

Friendly Inns, 351. 

Friendly Islands, Intoxicants used in, 35. 

Friends, Father Mathew joins the Total Abstinence Society of, 
in Ireland, 323. 

Frye, Hon. W. P., On success of the Maine law, 399, 400; On 
public sentiment created by the Maine law, 442. 

Funerals in England in the 14th century, Provision for intoxi- 
cants at, made by the dying, 153. 

Gagahoguha, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

German drinking song, 127 ; Drinking code, 128 ; Wine casks 

of enormous size, 131. 
Germans, Ancient, Debated important matters while under the 

influence of liquor, 125. 
Germanicus, His victory over the drunken German Marsians, 

126. 
Germany, Intoxicants used in, 32, 34, 37 ; Early intemperance 

in, 124 ; The establishment of the monasteries in, a cause of 



Index. 465 

intemperance, 131 ; Drinking habits of the students of, 136 ; 
Increase of drunkenness in, 137 ; Annual consumption of in- 
toxicants in, 208; Punishment of intemperance in, 268; Mode- 
rate drinking societies in, 276. 

Gin drinking, See England. 

Gladstone, On the business of government to make it difficult 
for man to do wrong, 434 ; On English Revenue not depen- 
dent on the liquor traffic, 440. 

Glycerine, Used in adulterating beer, 71. 

Good Samaritans, The, 342. 

Good Templars, The, 343. 

Gordon, Dr., On effects of moderate drinking, 16. 

Gossips, Resort to taverns in England and France in the 15th 
century, 153. 

Gough, John B., On prohibition, 426. 

Grace cup in English Universities, Significance of, 144. 

Grapes, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

Great Britain, Intoxicants used in, 32, 34, 40, 41 ; Intemperance 
in, 140, 176 ; Annual consumption of intoxicants in, 208 ; Pau- 
perism in, 233 ; Alcoholic death-rate of, 245 ; Total abstinence 
organizations in, 311 ; Success of local prohibition in, 391 ; 
Liquor revenue, and cost of, 438. 

Greece and Rome, Drinking customs of, 96 } drunkards punished 
in Greece, 265. 

Greeks, Intoxicants used by, 33, 36, 37 ; drinking cups of the, 
105 ; Excessive drinking by the, 106 ; Enigmas, puzzles, &c. 
invented at their feasts, 107 ; Cup of song of the, 109 ; Women, 
drinking among, 108. 

Greek Poets, The, on the disastrous effects of wine drinking, 101. 

Greeley, Colorado, Success of prohibition in, 413. 

Greenough, Horatio, on drinking habits in Florence, 115. 

Grier, Judge, on constitutionality of prohibitory laws, 372 ; On 
gain to the country if it should lose the revenue from the 
liquor traffic, 439, 

Habbakuk, the Prophet, on the evils of wine drinking, 122. 

Hafiz, the Persian Poet, praises wine, 90. 

Harpers' Weekly opposes prohibition, 451. 

Harris, Dr., on evils of moderate drinking, 16. 

Haug, Dr., witnesses a Soma sacrifice, and tastes the Soma, 83. 

Haven, Eev. Gilbert, on success of prohibition in Mass., 404. 

Health-drmking, formality of its observance in the 16th cen- 
tury, 161 ; Gov. Winthrop recommends its abolition in New 
England, 188 ; The General Court of Massachusetts attempts 
to abolish it, 188. 
BO 



466 Index. 

Heckewelder, Rev. John, on the responsibility of the whites 
for the introduction of intoxicants among the North Ameri- 
can Indians, 75, 177. 

Hector, N. Y., Total abstinence society in, in 1818, 307. 

Hemp-seed, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

Hereditary evils of intemperance, 247. 

Herodotus, on the intemperance of the Persians when debating 
political affairs, 90 ; On Cyrus' victory by intoxicating his 
enemies, 91 ; His conflicting testimony with regard to intox- 
icants in Egypt, 93 ; Identifies Osiris with Bacchus, 94. 

Higginbottom, Dr. John, On intemperance and mental disease, 
249. 

Hitchcock, Prof., On the failure of the moderation pledge, 299. 

Hobbs, His definition of temperance, 31. 

Holland, Intoxicants used in, 34, 38, 41, 42. 

Holly Tree Inns, 351. 

Homa, The ancient intoxicating beverage offered in sacrifice to 
the Persian gods, supposed to be identical with Soma, 86 ; 
The tree, where found, 86 ; The name also given to a god, 86 ; 
The holiness awarded to those who prepare the sacrificial, 
87 ; The prepared has neither dissolution nor death, 88 ; 
Prayer to be used by the priest while preparing, 88 ; It 
overcomes all demons, and puts its curse on those who do not 
prepare it, 88 ; Obviously offered to the good gods, but Plu- 
tarch supposes it offered to the demons, 89 ; To be used by 
the gods only, and not by men, 89. 

Homer, On drugged wines invented in Egypt, 94 ; On wine 
producing the same effect on gods and men, 100. 

Honey, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

Honey-Moon, Origin of the word, 126. 

Hooper, Dr., On mortality of the intemperate, 245. 

Hopkins, Bishop, On the triumph of temperance the triumph of 
infidelity, 306. 

Hosea, The Prophet, denounces wine, 121. 

Howard, Gov., On the success of prohibition in R. I., 407. 

Hudson, Henry, debauches the Indians of New York, 177. 

Hun, Dr., His definition of moderate drinking, 28. 

Hungary, Intoxicants usec^ in, 33, 37, 40. 

Hunt, Rev. Thos. P., His rhyming pledge of total abstinence 
for children, in 1826, 308. 

Hura, The common intoxicant in Persia, 89. 

Iceland, Intoxicants used in, 39. 

Idiocy caused by intemperance, 252. 

India, Intoxicants used in, 36, 37, 42; Intemperance in, 79; 



Index. 467 

The Soma sacrifices offered to tlie gods of, 79 ; The gods of, 
grant their favors only when intoxicated, 80; The ancient 
people of, intoxicated on Soma, 82 ; Other intoxicants used by, 
83; Confession of the people of, that intoxicants cause their 
sins, 84 ; Ancient importations of intoxicants into, 84 ; Intem- 
perance among the modern inhabitants of, 84 ; Annual de- 
baucheries in, 83; Penalty indicted on drunkards by the 
laws of, 264 ; Sellers of liquors in ancient, to be banished, 
264 ; Prohibition in, 367. 

Indiana, Prohibition in, 377 ; Decision of Supreme Court of, on 
outlawing the liquor traffic, 439. 

Indians of North America, Knew nothing of intoxicants before 
the whites came among them, 74, 176-186 : Desire that no in- 
toxicants shall be brought among them, 179, 182; Policy of 
William Penn and the Friends towards, 180 ; Characteristics 
of the early traders with, 181 ; Ease ally behavior of Govern- 
ment Agents to, 186 ; The sale of liquor to x>rohibited, 185, 370. 

Inebriate Asylums, Object of, 353. 

Insanity, Caused by Intemperance, 247-258 ; Correspondence of, 
with amount of liquor sold, 251. 

Intemperance, Consists in any use of intoxicants as a beverage, 
15 ; The crime of the age, 73 ; Probably known to the antedi- 
luvians, 74 ; Unsupported charge that the North American 
Indians were addicted to, before their intercourse with the 
whites, 74 ; In China, 75 ; India, 79 ; Persia, 85 ; Egypt, 93 ; 
Greece and Eome, 96 ; Juclea, 115 ; Philistines, Amalekites 
and Syrians, 123 ; Babylonians, 124 ; Germany, 124 ; England, 
140; Saxons, 142; Danes, 148; Normans, 149; Irish, 164; 
Indians of North America, 176 ; In the United States, 186 ; 
In the United States, as affected by early emigrants, 191 ; In 
North America as increased by the French War, 194 ; Thomas 
Jefferson on the evils of 204; A cause of large desertions 
from the army, 204 ; Its relations to crime, 216-229 ; To pros- 
titution, 229-232 ; To pauperism, 233-240 ; To health, 240-247 ; 
To mental disease and heredity, 247; Hereditary evils of, 252. 

Intoxicants, Feebleness of supposed proof of their being known 
among the Lake Dwellers, 74 ; The furnishing of, to the 
King, the tenure on which Crown Lands were held in Eng- 
land, 146 ; Cost of, in England, 151 ; The impost of, farmed 
out in Massachusetts, in 1688, 190 ; What kinds were used in 
America in 1759, 194 ; Expense of those used on religious and 
political occasions, 199; At funerals, 200 ; Accidental loss of 
those provided for a Minister's Association, 200 ; Cost of the 
consumption of, in the United States in 1832, 204; Annual 
consumption in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, 



468 Index, 

France, and the world, 208; Quantity and cost of the mate- 
rials used in the manufacture of, 209 ; Their power to inflame 
the passions, 229 ; The use of, induces disease, 240, 302 ; 
Large quantities sold by druggists, 207. 

Iowa, Prohibition in, 377, 378. 

Ireland, Intoxicants used in, 34; Extent of distillation in, 164; 
Xnnies of intoxicating drinks in, 165 ; Moderate drinking 
Society in, 290; And its failure, 300; Total abstinence society 
in, 322 ; Father Mathew's work in, 323 ; Increase of revenue 
in, caused by the temperance movement, 440. 

Isaiah, the prophet, denounces the use of wine, 120. 

Italy, Intoxicants used in, 37 ; Intemperance in, 111. 

James I., Drunkenness at the court of, 163. 

Japan, Intoxicants used in, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41. 

Java, Intoxicants used in, 36. 

Jefferson, Thos., On the evils of intemperance on politicians, 204. 

Jemsheed, of Persia, manufactures wine and calls it " the 
delightful poison, V 90. 

Jews, Intemperance among the, 115 ; Licentiousness of, caused 
by intemperance, 116. 

Jewish Catechism, Definition of temperance in, 36. 

Jewish Priests, Commanded not to use wine, 117. 

Jewish Women, Drunkenness of, 117. 

Jewett, Dr. Charles, On prohibition, 425. 

Jin-jin-di Root, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Joel, The Prophet, denounces the use of wine, 122. 

Johnson, Dr. James, on the evils of moderate drinking, 19. 

Jonadabs, The order of, 345. 

Jones, Major, Chief of State Police, On the success of prohibi- 
tion in Massachusetts, 404. 

Judges of Criminal Courts, Testimony of, on the relations of 
intemperance to crime, 217. 

Julian's epigram on beer, 141. 

Juniper Berries, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Juvenile Sisters of Temperance, 340. 

Juvenile Sons of Temperance, 340. 

Juvenile Templars, 344. 

Kansas, Prohibition in, secured by Constitutional Amendment, 

378 ; Opposition of the liquor interest to the amendment, 420 ; 

Comments of " the Western Brewer" on the adoption of the 

amendment, 423. 
Kent, Chief- Justice, On general interest greater than private 

interest, 433. 



Index. 469 

Knights of Jericlio, Notice of, 345. 

Kotzebue ; On manner of making intoxicants from Cava, 35. 

Lambs-flesh, Intoxicants made from, 37. 

Lainbs-wocl, Signiiicaree of, as connected with, drink, 143. 

Landis, Mr., Founder of Tineland, Eeasons why he established 
prohibition, 412. 

Langsdorf, Dr. On a vulgar Russian intoxicant, 31. 

Lapland, Intoxicants used in, 39. 

Law creates moral sentiment, 385. 

Lay, Benjamin, His pamphlet against the use of rum, 277. 

Laycock, Prof., On the hereditary influence of intemperance, 255. 

Leadhills, Scotland, Movement in, in 1760, against use of ardent 
spirits, 286. 

League of the Cross, for the suppression of drunkennoss, 293. 

Lemon flowers, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Lewis, Ex-Bailie, On prohibition, 429. 

License, The debtor and credit of, 438. 

License of Evil, its mischief, 385. 

License Laws, History of the, 354; All pre-suppose the vicious- 
ness of the traffic, 355 ; In England, 355 ; America, 366 ; 
Sweden, 364. 

Licensed Houses, John Adams on the extent and evil of, in 1760, 
and on their influence on politics, 195. 

Licentiousness of the Israelites, Caused by intemperance, 116 ; 
General tendency of drinking to, 229. 

Life Insurance, Bearing of the facts of, on moderate drinking, 
23 ; Failure of company for insuring moderate drinkers, 23 ; 
Advantages of total abstinence in, 24 ; Circular of the Mu- 
tual Company, In. Y., on the evils of intemperance, 26. 

Liquor traffic, The, Can claim no protection, of law, 439: Con- 
trols the great political x^arties, 449. 

Litchfield, Connecticut, Farmers in, organize against the use 
of ardent spirits, 197. 

Local Option Laws, Action on, in Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, New York, Maryland, Kentucky, 379 ; Xorth Carolina, 
Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia, Oregon. 
Massachusetts, 380 ; Canada, Great Britain, 381. 
London Times, The, On the annihilation of intoxicants de- 
manded by morality, 439. 
London Daily Telegraph, The, On the sinfulness of the Iic|_uor 

traffic, 439.' 
London Standard, The, Its definition of moderate drinking, 27. 
Lonsdale, Lord, On the argument that large numbers are en- 
gaged in the liquor traffic, 432. 



470 Index. 

Lot, The drunkenness of, 116. 

Lotus berries, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Luther, Martin, On the curse of beer and beer-brewing, 53. 

Macnish, Dr., On the evils of moderate drinking, 17. 

Macroie, Dr., That moderate drinking is worse in physical re- 
sults, than occasional excesses, 19. 

Madagascar, Intoxicants used in, 33, 41, 42. 

Madhuca flowers, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Mamades, Madness, One of the names given to the women who 
engaged in the Bacchic Mysteries, 99. 

Mague, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Maine Law, Enforced, 371, 393, 445 ; Neal Dow, on the evasions 
of, 446. 

Maize, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Makkahnyeye, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Malcom, Sir James, On the origin of wine in Persia, 89. 

Malle-berries, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Malt-liquors, An Egyptian invention, 49 ; How made, 50 ; Con- 
tain no nutritious qualities, 52. 

Mandioch-root, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Manhattan, Indian significance of the word, 178. 

Manioc, Intoxicants made from, 38. 

Mann, Hon. J. S., On success of prohibition in Potter County, 
Pennsylvania, 411. 

Manning,. Cardinal, On prohibition, 429. 

Marsh, Eev. John, On failure of the moderation pledge, 299, 301. 

Marsians, the Drunken, Germanicus 7 victory over, 126. 

Martha Washington Societies, 328. 

Martha's Vineyard, Drunkenness on, in 1678, 187. 

Marvin, Rev. E. P., On success of prohibition in Massachu- 
setts, 404. 

Massachusetts, Prohibition in, 375, 413 ; Chaplain of State pri- 
son of, on increased drunkenness under license, 406 ; Chief 
Constable of, on effects of license law, 406; Chief of Police of, 
on the workings of prohibition, 406 ; District Attorney for 
Suffolk County on operation of prohibitory law, 406 ; State 
Board of Charities on relations of intemperance to crime, 227 ; 
To pauperism, 239 ; To hereditary weakness, 253 ; State Board 
of Health on relations of intemperance to pauperism, 239 ; 
Report of Registration of, on intemperance and mortality, 
246. 

Massachusetts Society for the suppression of Intemperance, Ori- 
gin of, 282 ; Drinking habits of its members at Society din- 
ners, 284. 



Index, 471 

Mather, Dr. Increase, Sermon on the evils of intemperance, 188. 

Mather, Dr. Cotton, Serious address to frequenters of taverns, 
189. 

Mathew, Kev. Thobold, Induced to become a teetotaler by mem- 
bers of the Religious Society of Friends, 323 ; His work in 
Ireland, 324 ; England, 318 ; Scotland, 322 ; The United States, 
334 ; In favor of prohibition, 425. 

Mattison, Eev. Hiram, Writes a tract against temperance socie- 
ties, 329. 

Maudsley, Dr. Henry, On the evils of moderate drinking, 19; On 
intemperance as a cause of insanity, 248 ; On hereditary in- 
fluence of insanity, 252. 

Mazdayasnas, The name given by their religious books to the 
ancient Persians, 85. 

Mead, Held in great esteem in Britain, 141. 

Mead-maker, His high position, 141. 

Medical Faculty of Philadelphia, Memorializes Congress on the 
evils of distilled liquors, 198. 

Medical Profession, Testimony of the, on the evils of moderate 
drinking, 16 ; On the relation of intemperance to disease, 240. 

McLean, Judge, On the constitutionality of prohibitory laws, 373. 

Mendon Association of Ministers, Use intoxicants at their meet- 
ings, 200 ; Abolish their use, 201. 

Mexico, Intoxicants used in, 31, 38, 41 ; Ancient punishment of 
drunkenness in, 270. 

Micah the Prophet, On the evils caused by wine, 122 

Michigan, Prohibition in, 374. 

Miengou, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Milk, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Mill, John Stuart, On the province of law, 389. 

Miller, Governor, On the success of prohibition in Connecticut, 
408. 

Millet, Professor James, On the tendencies of moderate drink- 
ing, 18. 

Miller, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Milwaukee, Retail price of beer and whiskey annually manu- 
factured in, 206. 

Miner, A. A., D.D., On the success of prohibition in Massachu- 
setts, 404. 

Minnesota, Prohibition in, 375. 

Mitchell, Dr. A., On the hereditary influence of intemperance, 
254. 

Moderate drinking societies, 276. 

Moderate Drinkers, Their example worse than that of common 
drunkards, 29. 



472 Index. 

Moderation, The plea for, examined, 13-31; Medical testimony 
on the- injury done by, 16-23; Impossibility of defining, 27; 
Attempted definitions of Dr. Austie, 27 ; Dr. Hun, Democritus, 
Epictetus, Temperance Society of the 16th century, London 
Standard, 28. 

Mohammedans, Severe punishments inflicted on the drunken, 
267. 

Molle, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Monasteries and Nunneries, Nurseries of vice among the Anglo- 
Saxons, 144 ; Abolished on account of their dissipations, 156. 

Monks, Their gluttony and dissipations, 150. 

Moral sentiment, Created by law, 385. 

Moreau, N. Y., Early temperance society in, 280. 

Morel, Dr., On the relations of intenrperance to insanity, 249 ; 
On the hereditary influence of intemperance, 252. 

Motherwort, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Mount Wollaston, The intemperate colonists of, 187. 

Mulberries, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Munroe, Prof. Henry, On the evil of moderate drinking, 17. 

Murphy, Francis, His reform movement, 349; On prohibition, 
426. 

Mutillas, Intoxicants made from, 39. 

Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Alarmed by in- 
creasing intemperance, 25. 

Mysore, Prohibition in, 367. 

Nadab and Abihu, Their offence caused by drunkenness, 3 17. 

Nashville, Tennessee, Circular issued by the liquor dealers of, 
422. 

National Temperance Society in Great Britain, Organization of, 
318. 

National Temperance Society and National Publishing House, 
(XL S.) Organization and work of, 248. 

National Christian Temperance Alliance (U. S.) t Organization 
of, 351. 

Nebraska, Prohibition in, 377. 

New British and Foreign Temperance Society, Organization of, 
317. 

Newfoundland, Prohibition in, 367. 

New Hampshire, Prohibition in, 373. 

New York Times, On the impossibility of the Republicans nom- 
inating prohibitionists, 452. 

Noah, Drunkenness of, 116. 

Noah, M. M., On unfermented wines at the Jewish passover, 44. 

Normans, The, Drunkenness of, 149. 



Index. 473 

North America, Number of intoxicating drinks used in, in 

1759, 194 ; Punishment of drunkenness in, 271. 
Norway, Intoxicants used in, 34, 40, 41. 
Nubia, Intoxicants used in, 33, 36, 37. 
Nuns, Dissolute habits of, 154. 

Oats, Intoxicants made from, 40. 
Ohio Liquor Dealers' Association, Resolution of, 422. 
Osgood, J. K,, His reform movement, 349. 
Oranges, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Palestine, Intoxicants used in, 37. 

Palm juice, Intoxicants made from, 35. 

Paper Makers of Philadelphia, Early temperance efforts of, 280. 

Paraguay, Intoxicants used in, 31, 32, 38. 

Parker, Dr. William, On the relations of intemperance to dis- 
ease, 244 ; On the extinction of drinking families, 247 ; On 
the hereditary influence of intemperance, 255. 

Parsees of India, The, Wine drinking by, 84. 

Passover, The, The wines used in the feast of, were unfermen- 
ted, 43. 

Pauperism, The relations of to intemperance, 233. 

Peaches, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Pears, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Peck, Gov., On success of prohibition in Vermont, 407. 

Peg-drinking, established by King Edgar, 147. 

Pennsylvania, Early drinking habits in, 191 ; Whiskey Rebel- 
lion in, 199 ; Punishment of drunkenness in, 272 ; Local pro- 
hibition in, 411. 

Persia, Intoxicants used in, 37 ; Intemperance in, 85 ; (See 
Homa) Origin of wine in, 89; Cheapness of wine in, 91. 

Persians, greatly addicted to wine, 90 ; Custom of debating' 
on their laws, when intoxicated, and reviewing when sober, 
90 ; Gain victory over their enemies by intoxicating them, 91. 
How they became the most drunken nation on earth, 91; Their 
entertainments described, 92 ; Drunkenness of the modem, 93. 

Persimmons, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Personal Liberty, Alleged interference of prohibition with, 

433. 
Peru, Intoxicants used in, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41. 
Philadelphia, Pecuniary Results of license in, 438 ; Petition of 
Medical faculty of, to Congress, on the evils caused by dis- 
tilled liquors, 197 ; Topers get possession of a temperance 
meeting in, 302. 
Philistines, Intemperance of the, 123. 



474 Index, 

Picnics held by women in the taverns, in the 15th century, 154. 

Pitauga, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Pitman, Hon. Robert C, On the contrasted working of prohibi- 
tory and license laws, 404 ; On the necessity for prohibition, 
428. 

Plantains, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Pledge, Distinction between the "long," and "short," 317. 

Pledge Drinking, 149. 

Pliny, On early use of wine in Rome, 111 ; On intemperance in 
Germany, 125. 

Plums, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Plymouth Colony, Punishment of drunkenness in, 272. 

Poland, Intoxicants used in, 32, 38. 

Porter, Rev. Ebenezer, Early writer on temperance, 280. 

Portugal, Intoxicants used in, 37. 

Potatoes, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Presbyterian General Assembly, Early action on temperance, 
282 ; Resolutions on total abstinence, 306. 

Priests, Jewish, Commanded not to use wine, 117. 

Prime, Rev. N. S., Early sermon on temperance noticed, 282. 

Private property, To be subjected to the public good, 388. 

Private interest, To subserve general interest, 431. 

Prohibition, Secured by constitutional provision in Kansas, 
Iowa, Maine and Rhode Island, 378. 

Prohibitory Laws in China, India, 366 : Rome, Mysore, 
America, 367 ; Extended by Congress over the Indians, 370 ; 
Enacted in Maine, 370 : Delaware, New Hampshire, 373 ; Wis- 
consin, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Yermont, 375 ; 
Connecticut, 376; Indiana, New York, Iowa, Nebraska, 377; 
A success in Sweden, 390; Great Britain, 391; Maine, 393; 
Massachusetts, 403 ; Yermont, 407 ; Rhode Island, 407 ; Con- 
necticut, 408 ; Potter County, Pennsylvania, 411 ; Caroline 
County, Maryland, 411; Yineland, N. J., 412; Greeley, Colo- 
rado, 413; United States Supreme Court on the Constitutional- 
ity of, 372 ; Early American arguments for, 367 ; Creates pub- 
lic opinion, 442 ; The right and duty of the State to enact 
them, 372 ; Opposition to, by the liquor organizations, 414, 
420; Testimony of eminent temperance advocates to- the ne- 
cessity for, 424 ; Objected to on the ground of self-interest, 430; 
Interference with personal liberty, 433; Sumptuary legisla- 
tion, 435; Loss of revenue, 436; In advance of public opinion, 
441 ; Cannot be enforced, 444 ; Opposed by the great political 
parties in the United States, 449 ; None enacted by the Re- 
publican Party Legislatures, 452 ; By what political parties 
enacted, 454. 



Index, 475 

Prostitution, Largely due to intemperance, 229 ; Average dura- 
tion of life iu, 231. 

Providence Journal, On the success of prohibition in Ehode Is- 
land, 408. 

Prussia, Pauperism in, 238 ; Insanity in, 251. 

Psak, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Public Houses, Franklin's presentment to the Grand Jury of 
Philadelpia, on the iu crease of, 193. 

Public Opinion, Prohibitory laws alleged to be in advance of, 
441 ; Sheldon Amos on, 443. 

Eabanus Manrns, Sermon by, in the 9th century, against intem- 
perance, 132. 

Eaisins, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Easpberries, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Eay, Dr., On hereditary influence of intemperance, 253. 

Eechabites, The independent order of, 335. 

Eeform Club movement, The, 349. 

Eeligious Houses, Suppression of, in England, on account of 
their immoralities, 156. 

Eepublican Xational Convention of 1872, Denounces prohibi- 
tion, 450. 

Eepublican Party, Opposed to prohibition, 451 ; Eepeal of pro- 
hibitory laws by, 454. 

Eevenue, Argument that prohibition interferes with, 436 ; 
Amount contributed by the liquor traffic, and loss to by the 
same, 438 ; Justice Grier on the country's gain if it lose all 
produced by the liquor traffic, 439 ; Gladstone's reply to the 
brewers on, 440; How it is increased by the temperance vic- 
tories, 440. 

Eeynolds, Dr. H. A., His reform movement, 349 ; On prohibi- 
tion, 426. 

Ehode Island, Prohibition a success in, 407. 

Ehododendron, Intoxicants made from 4Q 

Eice, Intoxicants made from, 40. 

Eichardson, Dr. B. W., On the dangers of moderate drinking, 
21 ; On increased vitality by total abstinence, 25 ; On the 
action of alcohol in rousing the passions, 230; On the rela- 
tions of intemperance to insanity, 251. 

Rig-Veda, Mention of intemperance in, 79. 

Eomberg, Dr. M. H., On intemperance and mental disease. 249. 

Eome, Intoxicants used in, 37 ; First mention of drunkenness in 
the literature of, 111 ; Excessive drinking by men and women 
in, 112; Drinking for wager in, 112; Enormous capacity of 
some of the topers in, 113 ; Drunkenness punished in, 267 ; 



476 Index. 

Use of intoxicants prohibited in, 367 ; Intemperance in mod- 
ern, 114. 

Royal Templars of temperance, 346. 

Earn, The landing of, in Connecticut, resisted in 1650, 190 ; 
Importation of, in N. York, in 1691, 191 ; Early imports of, from 
the West Indies, 192 ; The chief manufacture and common 
beverage in Massachusetts in 1748, 192. 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, On the evils of moderate drinking, 16; In- 
fluence of the volume of temperance sermons attributed to, 
197 ; Publishes an inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits, 
279; His influence on the Methodist and Presbyterian 
Churches, 279. 

Russia, Intoxicants used in, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42 ; 
Drunkenness in, encouraged by the government, 137; Ee venue 
from liquor in, 137; Peasantry of, forced into drunkenness, 
138; Temperance efforts in, forcibly suppressed, 139. 

Eye, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Saloon keepers and liquor dealers' Association of Illinois, Reso- 
lution of, 422. 

Sater, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Saturnalia, Drunkenness at the feast of the, 113. 

Saxons, The, Hard drinkers before settling in Britain, 142 ; In- 
toxicants used by, 142. 

Scotland, Earliest moderation society in, 286 ; First total absti- 
nence society in, 319 ; Punishment of drunkenness in, 269. 

Scottish Temperance League, Organization of, 322. 

Scottish Temperance Union, Organization of, 322. 

Self-interest as opposed to prohibition, 430. 

Sellah, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Seneca, On excessive drinking by both sexes, in Rome, 42. 

Sevrail, Dr., His definition of moderate drinking, 27; His 
Pathology of Drunkenness, 332. 

Shedd, Rev. J. H., On drunkenness in Persia, 92. 

Shee-King, The, Intemperance noticed in, 78. 

Shoo-King, The, Intemperance noticed in, 76. 

Siberia, Intoxicants used in, 34, 39, 40, 41. 

Singin root, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Sloe fruit, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Slokatrava, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Smith, G err it, On the failure of the moderation pledge, 298 ; 

Smith, Dr. Stephen, On the relations of intemperance to dis- 
ease, 243. 

Smollett, the historian. On the cheapness of gin, and extent of 
its use in England, 169. 



Index. 477 

Socrates/ His definition of intemperance, 13 ; Xenophon's testi- 
mony to what temperance was in his life, 30. 

Society Islands, Punishment of drunkenness in, 271. 

Solomon, His denunciation of wine, 118. 

Soma, a sacrifice and an intoxicant in ancieut India, 79. See 
Horn a. 

Sons of the Soil, Organization of the, 345. 

Sons of Temperance, Organization of the, 337. 

Sot's Couch, Use of, in Germany, 133. 

Spain, Intoxicants used in, 31, 32, 34, 40. 

Spencer, Herbert, On the object of men in associating as a 
State, 389. 

Spirit and Wine Manufacturers and Dealers' Society, Objects of, 
422. 

Spirituous Liquors, Association in Connecticut, to discourage 
the use of, 197. See Distillation. 

State, The right and duty of the, to prohibit Lhe liquor traffic, 
372. 

St. Ambrose, on wine and sensualism, 229. 

St. Martin, Alexis, Experiments on the action of alcohol on, 304. 

Storer, Dr., On the hereditary influence of intemperance, 253. 

Strahlenberg, On a vulgar intoxicant in Russia, 32. 

Strawberries, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Sugar and Sugar Cane, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Sukites, The name given to Bacchus, in Sparta, 99. 

Sumptuary Legislation, Prohibitory Laws so-called, 435. 

Sunday-drinking in England, in the 14th century, 152 ; In the 
16th century, 155, 158, 160. 

Sura, the Intoxicant used by the common people of ancient 
India, 83. 

Sweden, Ants used to flavor brandy in, 33; Intoxicants used in, 
34, 40; punishment of drunkenness in, 270; temperance so- 
ciety in, 292 ; License Laws of, 364 ; Success of local prohi- 
bition in, 390. 

Switzerland, Intoxicants used in, 35. 

Syria, Intoxicants used in, 32, 33, 36, 37 ; Intemperance in, 123. 

Tacitus, on the Saturnalia, 114 ; On drinking in Germany, 125. 
Tait, Dr., On the relations of drinking to prostitution, 230. 
Taney, Chief-Justice, On the Constitutionality of Prohibitory 

Law, 372. 
Tartary, Intoxicants used in, 34, 37, 40, 41. 
Tavernier, On drunkenness in Armenian Persia and among 

the Persian Georgians, 92. 
Taverns, popular resort for drinking in England, in the 15th 



478 Index. 

century, 153; Women resort to, 153; Sunday resorts in the 
16th century, 155 ; Largely frequented in the 17th century, 
165 ; Description of, in the 17th century, 165 ; Bad reputa- 
tion of, 166 ; Address of Dr. Cotton Mather to frequenters of, 
188 ; Church members not to visit them, 189 ; Punishment in- 
flicted on the clergy for visiting, 274. See Public Houses. 

Tee-root, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Teff-plant, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Temperance, defined by Socrates, 13 ; Xenophon, 30 ; St. 
Thomas Aquinas, Hobbes, and the Jewish Catechism, 31 ; 
The false claim that moderate drinking is, 14 ; The use of the 
word in the New Testament necessitates the idea of total ab- 
stinence from whatever is bad ; 14. PauFs reasoning with 
Felix on, 14; The kind enjoined on the athlete, 15; The kind 
enjoined on the continent, 15. 

Temperance Flying Artillery, The Organization so called, 345. 

Temperance Lighthouse, The, The first temperance hall 
erected, 316. 

Temperance Societies on Moderation basis, Notice of the ear- 
liest, 276; In America, 277, 292; Scotland, 286; Ireland, 
290 ; England, 291 ; Sweden, 292 ; Causes of failure of, 297, 
300, 302, 305 ; Disbanding of, 310 ; Opposition of, to total ab- 
stinence societies in England, 314 ; In Scotland, 317. 

Temple of Honor, The, Organization and work of, 340. 

Teetotal, Origin of the word, 307, 314. 

Thackeray, W. M., On German Drinking in the 17th century, 
130. 

Thayer, Eev. Wm, M., On contrasted results of prohibition and 
license, 404. 

Thibet, Intoxicants used in, 34, 41. 

Thyades, Folly, Name given to women who engaged in the 
Bacchic mysteries, 99. 

Tocurso, Intoxicants made from, 41. 

Tonquin, Intoxicants used in, 39. 

Total Abstinence in China, 294; Persia, 295; Arabia, 295; 
Eome, 296 ; Advocated by the temperance press, in 1825, 298 ; 
Progress of, in the United States, 326 ; Opposed as hostile to 
agricultural interests, and its adherents discharged from 
Sweeny Colliery, in 1838, 17. 

Total Abstinence Pledges, one in America, in 1800, 296 

Total Abstinence Societies, the first in the United States, 307; 
In England, 311 : Scotland, 320 ; Ireland, 324 ; General pro- 
gress of, 326. 

Townson, Dr., On the relations of intemperance to insanity, 
252. 



Index. 479 

Trires, or Treves, Curious boast of the Bishop of, of his capac- 
ity to drink without intoxication, 134. 
Trotter, Dr., On " Sober Drunkards," 16. 
Turkey, Intoxicants used in, 35. 

Unfermented Wines used in ancient and in modern times, 42- 
49 ; Exclusively used at the Passover, 43. 

United Friends of Temperance, Organization of the, 346. 

United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institu- 
tion, Its experience with total abstainers and moderate 
drinkers, 23. 

United Order of True Reformers, Organization of the, 346. 

United States, Intoxicants used in, 32, 34, 39, 40, 41 ; Amount 
of liquors distilled in, and revenue from, in 1791-2, 199 ; Rev- 
enue rom distilled liquors from 1792 to 1798, 199 ; Drinking 
customs in, at the close of the American Revolution, 201, 277 ; 
Amount of spirits distilled in, from 1803 to 1812, 203 ; Con- 
sumption of distilled spirits in, in same period, 203 ; Cost of 
spirit drinking in, in 1832, 204; Liquor bill of, from 1860 to 
1872, 205 ; Annual cost of alcoholic drinks in, 208, 215 ; Relig- 
ious and political demoralization in, caused by the liquor 
traffic, 205 ; Pauperism in, and its relations to intemperance, 
239 ; Failure of moderation societies in, 298 ; License laws in, 
360 ; Results of prohibition in, 393. 

United States Brewers' Association, Its opposition to prohibi- 
tory laws, 414 ; Resolves to sustain no total abstinence men 
for political office, 415; Acknowledges the efficiency of pro- 
hibitory laws, 417 ; Contributes large amounts of money to 
defeat temperance legislation, 418. 

United States Commissioner of Education, On the number of 
criminals made by intemperance, 221. 

United States Congress, Appeals to, by the physicians of Phila- 
delphia to impose heavy duties on distilled liquors, 197; Ex- 
cise law passed by in 1791, 198. 

United States' Supreme Court, Decision of on the constitution- 
ality of prohibition, 372. 

United States' Temperance Union, Organization of the, 309. 

United States' Wine and Spirit Traders Society, Organization 
of the, 420. 

United Temperance Association, (Foreign), organization of, 
346. 

Vanguard of freedom, Organization of the, 345. 

Vermont, Prohibition in, 375, 407. 

Vice, Not to be taxed, but prohibited, 387. 



480 Index. 

Vine, The, Said to have "been regarded with contempt by the 
early Egyptians, 94 ; Alleged discovery of, in Egypt, 95 ; 
The origin of, attributed by the Greeks to the gods, 97 ; Curi- 
ous fable on the origin of, 98. 

Vineyards, Enumerated by Homer as among the possessions of 
his heroes, 97 ; The famous ones in Germany planted by the 
monks, 132. 

Vontaca, Intoxicants made from, 42. 

Wakes, Abolished on account of drinking at, 152. 

Warren, Dr. W. F., On drunkenness among German students, 
136. 

Washingtonian Movement, The history and progress of, 326; 
Causes of its decline, 328. 

Wassailing, and the Wassel bowl, description of, 144. 

Watermelons, Intoxicants made from, 42. 

Watson, Dr. John, On early drinking habits, and their origin 
in Pennsylvania, 191. 

West Indies, Intoxicants used in the, 34, 41. 

" Western Brewer, The," On the adoption of the prohibitory 
amendment to the Constitution of Kansas, 423. 

Wheat, Intoxicants made from, 42. 

Whiskey. Origin of the name, 56 ; Extent of use in Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1754, 193 ; Kebellion caused by, in Pennsylvania, 
198 ; Frauds on the United States revenue, 213. 

Wickliffe denounces the clergy for frequenting taverns, 152. 

Wilkinson, Sir J. G., On the testimony of the Egyptian frescoes 
in regard to wine drinking, 95. 

Willard, Miss Frances E., On the necessity of prohibition, 427. 

Wilson, Dr. Charles, On the dangers of moderate drinking, 18. 

Wilson, Hon. Henry, On prohibition, 426. 

Wine, Different substances employed in making, 33, 35, 36, 37, 
38, 39, 40, 42 ; Extensive use of, 37 ; Numerous varieties of, 
both in ancient and modern times, 37 ; Proofs that some was 
unfermented, 42-49 ; Adulterations of, 59 ; Origin of, in Per- 
sia, 89 ; In Greece, 97 ; Persian poets praise of, 90 ; Cheap- 
ness of, in Persia, 91 ; No ally to the temperance cause, 92 ; 
An obstacle to the spread of Christianity in Persia, 92 ; 
Drunk in large quantities by the Parsees of India, 93 ; Pre- 
judice of the Egyptians against, according to Plutarch, 94; 
The drugging of, attributed to Egypt, 94 ; Proofs of early 
use of, in Egypt, 95 ; All fermented drinks so called by the 
Greeks and Latins, 97 ; Alleged origin of the name, 97 ; Pla- 
to's theory that Bacchus invented it out of revenge, 98; 
Ancient legend on its origin, 98 ; Both men and gods simi- 



Index. 481 

larly affected by the use of, 100 ; Scarcity of, in Rome, 111 ; 
Jewish Priests commanded not to use, 117 ; Its use denounced 
by Solomon. 118 ; And by the Prophets, 120 ; Given to the 
Gauls, induces them to attack Rome, 140 ; The qualities of a 
good article of, 149; The price of fixed by law in England 
in 1200, 151 ; Price of, in the 16th century, 157 ; The use of, 
promotes sensuality, 229. 

Wine Casks, enormous ones in Germany, 131. 

Wisconsin, Prohibition in, 374. 

Woman's National Christian Union, Organization of, 350. 

Woman's Temperance Movement in the United States, 350. 

Women, names given to those who engaged in the Bacchic 
Mysteries, 99 ; Drunkenness of the Jewish, 117 ; Their re- 
sorting to taverns in the 15th century, 153. 

Woodbury, Judge, On the constitutionality of prohibition, 373 

Youmans, Prof., On the evils of moderate drinking, 19. 

Zend-Avesta, Significance of, as the name of the sacred book of 

the Persians, 85. 
Zoroaster, Difficulty of determining when he flourished, 85; 

His Persian name, 85 ; His birth due to his father's zeal as a 

preparer of the Homa beverage, 87. 






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